The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Tuesday an initial audit has flagged at least nine farm-to-market road (FMR) projects, worth a combined P126 million, as potential “ghost projects,” with most located in Mindanao.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. called the discovery “alarming,” despite the projects representing only a tiny fraction of completed FMRs.
“In the whole scheme of things, it’s still 0.03 percent. It’s not that big. But it’s still alarming,” Tiu Laurel said on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) meeting in Manila.
The DA is coordinating with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which oversees the implementation of FMRs.
DA Undersecretary Arnel de Mesa said the audit identified nine questionable FMRs out of more than 4,700 projects nationwide. Seven of the projects are in Davao Occidental and two are in Lanao del Sur.
“According to DPWH records, these projects were completed. But when our team visited the sites, nothing was done,” de Mesa said.
The seven projects in Davao Occidental are valued at P105 million, while the two in Lanao del Sur bring the total to about P126 million.
De Mesa noted that the contractors involved are mostly local firms and are separate from a group of large contractors previously flagged by the President for irregularities in flood control projects.
The DA submitted its initial audit report on Wednesday, and the full audit, which spans the four years from 2021, is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
 in Mindanao, sparking an audit into farm-to-market road funding irregularities.){kind=link}