Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan wants a detailed explanation and breakdown—with proper coordinates—of some P8 billion worth of farm-to-market road (FMR) projects in the proposed 2026 budget.
In an interview, the senator stressed that he will not be amenable to the proposed budget until such time all details for the FMR projects will be available for scrutiny and cross-checking.
This comes in light of the bicameral conference committee doubling the 2026 budget for FMR projects to P33 billion, but Pangilinan—who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform and defended the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) budget in the Senate—identified and flagged some P8 billion worth of projects without specific details.
The DA is the implementing agency of the FMR projects.
“Di ba ang Senate version 16B?,” he asked, referring to the Senate-approved FMR budget. “Tapos sa bicam, hiningi natin na magkaroon ng submission doon sa 33 billion na minumungkahi so sinubmit, pina-process namin tapos habang pina-process namin, mayroon kaming na-identify na kulang na actually 8 billion.”
“Initially, walang specifics so tutal hindi pa naman nagclo-close ang bicam, so we will raise this in the bicam and we want coordinates. We want geo-tagging. We want itemized, line by line items of each contract, or each project. Kasi hindi pwe-pwede yung lump sum. Di kami papayag sa lump sum,” he stressed.
The senator is the vice chair of the Subcommittee J of the Senate Committee on Finance and a member of the bicameral conference committee.
Pangilinan furthered that “we will move for the reconsideration for the approval of the 33 billion” as long as there are itemized geo-tagged coordinates for the FMR projects under the amount.
Previously, he raised concerns about the use of lump-sum amounts in the proposed budget for farm-to-market roads, emphasizing the need to specify exact coordinates for each project.
To ensure the funds are corruption- and abuse-free, the senator also introduced transparency mechanisms and digital governance initiatives for the DA and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).
Among these is a public online dashboard for irrigation projects, where timeline, status, finances (obligated/disbursed/source of funds), awarded contracts, contractors, and geo-tagged photos taken at key stages (start, mid, completion) will be displayed.