The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) ongoing audit into farm-to-market roads (FMRs) has now found nine projects in Mindanao that are non-existent, with a combined value of approximately ₱125 million.

Following the initial discovery of three “ghost” projects on Monday, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said the agency has identified six more projects that were reported to be completed but were found to have never been constructed.

Seven of the non-existent roads were found in the province of Davao Occidental, while two were seen in Lanao del Sur.

The nine FMR projects span a total of one kilometer (km), or nine kilometers in total.

Tiu Laurel said these projects, supposedly constructed between 2021 and 2023, were labeled as completed in reports of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

However, according to the DA’s records and subsequent audit, the FMRs had not even begun construction yet.

The DA identifies and validates the sites for FMRs, then transfers them to the DPWH, which oversees the bidding and construction process.

Out of the 70,000 kilometers (km) of FMRs slated for audit, the DA has so far reviewed 4,700 km. Of this, around 3,000 km have been verified to be legitimate, while the remaining 1,000 km are still awaiting further validation.

Tiu Laurel said the initial findings of its audit were submitted to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday, Oct. 1.

The entire audit is expected to be completed before the end of the year, covering every FMR in the country.

In light of the billions in losses from anomalous flood control projects, the secretary noted that these “ghost” FMRs are minimal in comparison.

Nonetheless, he said this is still alarming since public funds could have been misappropriated from these projects, thereby severing the linkage that was meant to connect farmers to markets.

“As the Secretary mentioned, even if the percentage of those with problems is very small, we still do not want to have this kind of issue,” said Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa in a chance interview.

“So the intended benefit of that 9 km, which was supposed to be for our farmers, is wasted,” he stressed.

Based on preliminary findings, De Mesa stated that the bogus projects in Davao Occidental and Lanao del Sur were constructed by local contractors.

This, then, excludes the top 15 contractors flagged by President Marcos for securing contracts amounting to ₱100 billion, or 20 percent of the entire ₱ 545 billion budget for flood control projects since 2022.

These identified construction firms are at the center of the ongoing flood control scandal, wherein contractors, engineers, as well as government officials are alleged to have pocketed public funds.

This controversy earlier prompted Tiu Laurel to conduct an audit into FMRs to determine if these projects are also mired in corruption.

De Mesa, also the DA’s spokesperson, said the DPWH would be responsible for these “ghost” FMRs since the agency awarded the contracts itself.

Malacañang has said that DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon is already monitoring this issue, stressing the need to address the issue at the earliest possible time.

Tiu Laurel said he recently met with Dizon over the matter, adding that the DA is ready to personally visit the FMRs.

The DA is aiming to construct as much as 131,000 km of FMRs to provide seamless access for farmers to markets.

With the approximately 70,000 km of roads already completed, around 61,000 km are still left to be constructed.

Under the DA’s proposed budget in 2026, its FMR program has been earmarked ₱16 billion to build 1,067 km of roads, 71 percent lower than its request of ₱56 billion.

This budget will increase following the reallocation of ₱39.4 billion from the DPWH’s ₱255.5 billion flood control project into the DA. From a proposed ₱176.7 billion budget for next year, the DA’s budget now stands at ₱216.1 billion.

Of the increase, ₱22.5 billion will go to the DA’s Office of the Secretary for flagship projects such as cold storage facilities, solar-powered irrigation systems, as well as FMRs.

The remaining ₱16.9 billion will support coconut replanting, enhanced crop insurance, fish port upgrades, farm-to-mill roads for sugar areas, and modern post-harvest facilities.