The Department of Agriculture (DA) will bid out farm-to-market road (FMR) projects by province next year to attract major players in the construction industry, as the agency moves to crack down on “ghost” projects.

To make the bidding process more effective, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said FMRs will no longer be awarded on a per-road basis but rather through a province-wide scheme.

Tiu Laurel said bundling multiple FMR projects together could attract top construction firms to participate in the bidding, especially given the higher costs involved.

The DA earlier tagged two small-time contractors as responsible for five substandard or non-existent roads in the province of Davao Occidental. Initial reports had cited eight “ghost” projects, but this has since been verified down to five.

Tiu Laurel said both contractors have since been blacklisted by the agency, barring their future participation in road construction.

In addition, the Secretary said the DA is also considering handing over FMR projects to “competent” local government units (LGUs), although the qualifications have yet to be identified.

The Department will likely sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the partner LGU, under which the latter will be in charge of the entire process—from bidding to construction—including the funding.

“Since it [FMRs] suddenly went to us, we’re not necessarily totally ready to implement. But technically, we can audit, we’ll get a third-party auditor to audit,” Tiu Laurel said in an interview last Monday. Dec. 15.

“We’ll be there [to audit], the citizens’ watch will be there, the Catholic Church will be there, if needed,” he said.

The DA will assume responsibility for FMRs next year, following their transfer from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the wake of the flood-control corruption scandal.

Under his agency’s watch, Tiu Laurel said the bidding process will be publicly viewable via livestream to ensure accountability.

He said the public could also monitor these projects through a transparency platform, which is now undergoing beta testing. Similar to the “Sumbong sa Pangulo” mechanism overseeing flood control projects, there will be an option to report “ghost” FMR projects.

While the proposed national budget for next year has yet to be approved, the DA is expecting an allocation of at least ₱32 billion, enough to build around 2,600 kilometers (km) of roads.

The agency earlier said it plans to reduce the cost of building a km of a two-lane FMR from the current ₱15 million to ₱12 million or even lower.

Based on government data, the country needs approximately 131,000 km of FMRs to efficiently connect agricultural production areas to markets. So far, around 70,000 km have been completed, leaving a backlog of roughly 61,000 km.