Lawmakers are pushing back against claims of widespread budget irregularities in agricultural infrastructure, framing mapping discrepancies as isolated data entry mistakes rather than systemic funding flaws.
Camarines Sur Rep. Arnie Fuentebella noted that public concerns over incorrect farm-to-market road (FMR) coordinates had been blown out of proportion after the Department of Agriculture (DA) confirmed that only eight of 1,669 projects in the proposed 2027 national budget contained errors.
Fuentebella emphasized that the eight affected projects represented less than one percent of the total program and should not create the impression that the entire FMR portfolio was compromised.
“Eight lang pala out of [more than] 1,600, parang blown out of proportion na. Parang the whole budget or coordinates ng farm-to-market road ay mali,” Fuentebella said during a hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food.
House Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairman and Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga initially raised the issue, requiring the DA to explain the source of the incorrect coordinates.
“May I ask the Department of Agriculture with regards to your statement with the wrong coordinates of the farm-to-market roads? Saan ba nanggaling iyon? Baka pwedeng bigyan niyo kami ng background on that?” Enverga asked.
DA Assistant Secretary for Operations U-Nichols Manalo confirmed the eight project errors and clarified that all 1,669 FMR projects were part of the National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted by the executive branch.
“We’d like to inform the committee that yung list po or ‘yung 1,669 FMR projects are within the NEP. Hindi po iyon, kumbaga, hindi iyon dun sa sinasabi nating inserted farm-to-market road projects,” Manalo said.
The DA noted that the discrepancies resulted from one or two mistyped digits in project coordinates during data entry.
The mapping errors were originally flagged by civil society groups, including the People’s Budget Coalition, BetterGov.ph, and BistoProyekto, during Senate deliberations on the DA’s proposed 2027 budget.
Following the findings, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. ordered a review of project documents and validation procedures to correct the entries and prevent recurrence.
Fuentebella pointed out that Congress retains ample time to rectify the coordinates prior to final budget enactment.
“I think the budget process isn’t finished yet, no? So Congress, may Senate ka pa, may bicam ka pa. I think you can still correct it,” Fuentebella also said.
“We’re not here to find faults or blame anyone,” Fuentebella added.
Fuentebella urged the DA to strengthen geotagging and validation procedures, particularly in remote agricultural regions affected by weak mobile signals, noting that FMRs reduce transportation costs for rural producers.
Fuentebella commended the department for addressing the data entry mistakes directly.
“So we’re not trying to find reasons for you, but we would like to thank you and appreciate the DA for standing up dun po sa pagkakamali ninyo,” Fuentebella said.
Manalo warned that uncorrected coordinates would halt project execution once the national budget is approved.
“We will be losing that eight farm-to-market road projects kasi hindi po natin pwedeng i-implement ‘yun because of what happened dun sa encoding,” Manalo also said.
Enverga expressed support for the agency’s corrective measures and its ongoing collaboration with external monitoring groups.
“We support the Department of Agriculture dun sa initiative ninyo to review the budget coordinates. And then I think there will be reforms and we’re glad that you’re working with the CSOs,” Enverga said.