Kalinga farmers decry delayed irrigation rehab project
September 23, 2016 | 8:56pm
BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Farmers in Kalinga province are demanding compensation from the contractor of the Upper Chico River Irrigation System (UCRIS) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) over the delayed irrigation of rice lands in Tabuk City.
According to Juan Dammay, chairperson of farmers’ group Timpuyog Dagiti Mannalon ti Kalinga and the clergy group Kalinga Apayao Religious Sector Association (KARSA), farmers along the Tabuk-Pinukpuk Chico line have lost an estimated P10 billion because of two missed rice cropping cycles.
The delayed rehabilitation of the UCRIS coupled with the El Niño phenomenon led to the suffering of the farmers there, Dammay said.
Farmers have been calling for compensation, an investigation on alleged corruption in the rehabilitation of the UCRIS and an evaluation of the materials used in the project.
In 2013, the World Bank released $10 million for the rehabilitation of the UCRIS through a government loan under the Participatory Irrigation Development Project.
This project was awarded to Markbilt Construction/RD Policarpio and Co. Inc. and the NIA was to oversee the implementation of the project.
TMK said that the alleged substandard implementation and the failure of the contractor to anticipate and mitigate the impact of a typhoon in 2015 worsened the damage to the irrigation system.
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