CABANATUAN CITY—The long sought-after free irrigation service will be implemented by the national government within this year, the National Irrigation Administration assured.
NIA administrator Peter Tiu Laviña, said top-level discussions are now ongoing between the agency and irrigators’ associations to “fine-tune” the plan to implement free irrigation nationwide.
“What I can assure you is that farmers will definitely enjoy free irrigation this 2017,” he said.
Laviña made the pronouncements even as farmers and irrigator groups have pressed the Duterte administration to make good on President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign promise to fully implement free irrigation service.
Led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, the associations formed the Pambansang Ugnayan para sa Libreng Irigasyon at Patubig to urge the Duterte administration to stop collecting irrigation service fees (ISFs) which if implemented, would mark a first in the country’s history.
An additional P2.3 billion was allotted to NIA in the recently ratified P3.35-trillion national budget.
The NIA has been depending on ISFs for the salaries of its officials and employees.
Under the law, NIA is required to collect ISF which amounts to roughly P2 billion annually which is also meant to fund the operations and maintenance of existing irrigation systems. An amendment of Republic Act 3601, the law that created NIA, may have to be undertaken to implement free irrigation.
NIA used to be just an irrigation division under the Department of Public Works and Highways but it was born through RA 3601 of 1963, which was amended through presidential decrees passed in 1974 and 1980.
Pronouncements made by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol of free irrigation ahead of an enabling law have already affected ISF collections in various NIA regional offices and national irrigation systems.
Over at the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS), the operator of the Pantabangan Dam based in this city, ISF collections have increased by P14 million in 2016 compared to the previous year, according to its operations manager Florentino David.
However, David said other regions are not as lucky as they have reported zero collections since the pronouncements were made. “It’s good that we were still able to jack up our collections. But other regions are not as fortunate as they have practically zero collections,” he said.
UPRIIS is the country’s largest NIS. Its Pantabangan Dam irrigates 120,000 hectares of agricultural lands in Nueva Ecija and portions of Central Luzon.
David said if free irrigation is implemented in UPRIIS, some 200 employees, mostly collection representatives and billing clerks might lose their jobs.
“This will be the effect of free irrigation but we cannot do anything about it. We’ll just have to find a way to give them other positions,” he said.