House Farm-to-Market Road Insertions Come from DA List, Says Agriculture Spokesman

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has clarified that the House of Representatives' insertions for farm-to-market roads (FMRs) are based on a validated master list. DA spokesman Arnel de Mesa explained that lawmakers could have taken projects from the DA's early budget proposals or the master list of the farm-to-market network plan. However, errors occurred when staff copied or transferred the projects, resulting in mistakes with the coordinates. The People's Budget Coalition (PBC) flagged hundreds of insertions lacking supporting documents and wrong coordinates that led to some roads being plotted at sea. DA officials met with the PBC and attributed the errors to human error in copy-pasting coordinates.