A House committee inquiry revealed that project tracking failures in the proposed budget originated within executive agency drafting rather than legislative amendments, threatening the execution of key rural infrastructure.
Department of Agriculture (DA) Assistant Secretary for Operations U-Nichols A. Manalo admitted to the House Committee on Agriculture and Food that coordinate errors in eight farm-to-market road (FMR) projects were already present in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the executive branch.
Manalo told the committee that all 1,669 FMR projects under discussion, including the eight entries with erroneous coordinates, were included in the original executive submission.
The admission established that faulty project coordinates were contained in the initial budget proposal submitted to Congress, rather than introduced through amendments during House deliberations.
Manalo acknowledged that the discrepancies represent a serious concern for the DA, warning that the eight affected projects could become impossible to implement due to incorrect location coordinates.
Department tracking traced the discrepancies across the eight entries to encoding and geotagging errors involving one or two mistyped digits.
Camarines Sur Rep. Arnie Fuentebella noted that the congressional budget process provides remaining opportunities to correct the entries before final enactment.
“Hindi pa naman tapos ang budget deliberation. May Senate pa, may bicam pa, at subject to review by the President,” Fuentebella said.
Fuentebella noted the department’s public ownership of the inaccuracies in official project submissions.
“We appreciate yung pagtanggap ninyo ng kamalian,” Fuentebella also said.
House Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairman and Quezon Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga required an explanation from DA officials regarding the discrepancies before proceeding with the committee’s inquiry into agricultural preparedness for El Niño under House Resolution No. 967.
Manalo said the discrepancies were initially raised by civil society organizations during Senate deliberations on the DA’s proposed 2027 budget.
Following the Senate hearing, the department met with representatives of the People’s Budget Coalition alongside the DA undersecretary overseeing the FMR program to review questioned entries.
Manalo also cited a November 3 statement from Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr., in which the department accepted responsibility for rectifying inaccurate project information originating from the agency.
Tiu Laurel ordered an internal review of project descriptions, supporting documents, and validation procedures to determine how the errors occurred and prevent recurrence.
The department committed to strengthening geotagging and project validation through cross-checking, third-party reviews, and citizen monitoring via the FMR Watch portal.
Enverga called for ongoing reviews and operational reforms to ensure project information submitted for congressional consideration remains accurate and verifiable.