NIA supports free irrigation program

MANILA, Philippines - The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) reiterated it is not against free irrigation program of the Duterte government, contrary to what the Department of Agriculture thinks.

This was in response to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol’s pronouncements that NIA officials were planning to delay the free irrigation program promised by President Rodrigo Duterte after the P4 billion additional budget for 2017 had been denied.

The additional funding is supposed to cover the irrigation service fees (ISF) to allow NIA to stop depending on collections for the salaries of its officials and employees and for its operations.

“I realized that the opposition to the free irrigation policy of the President came within the NIA itself, especially among officials who are holdovers from the previous administration, including the holdover administrator Florencio Padernal,” Piñol said.

NIA spokesperson Filipina Bermudez said the agency has “always been supportive of the President’s free irrigation.”

“We never opposed that. NIA is not against free irrigation,” she stressed.

But, Bermudez said the problem is that the agency has yet to receive directives or advice from President Duterte.