Typhoon-hit CL farmers exempt from irrigation fees

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – Some 12,000 farmers in Nueva Ecija and certain towns in Central Luzon who have been receiving irrigation from the Pantabangan Dam will be exempted from irrigation service fees (ISFs) after their farmlands were devastated by typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” two months ago, the National Irrigation Administration said over the weekend.

Josephine Salazar, operations manager of the NIA’s Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems which operates the Pantabangan Dam, said the farmers will be granted the exemption following a two-month validation conducted by the agency which found that the two typhoons severely damaged a total of 15,000 hectares out of its service area of 104,000 hectares.

Earlier, NIA administrator Antonio Nangel aired his support to the request of Nueva Ecija officials to exempt farmers from paying the ISFs during the cropping season, as their lands were hit hard by the calamities.