UPRIIS abolition proposal opposed

CABANATUAN CITY -- A plan to abolish the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS), operator of the giant Pantabangan Dam, and merge it with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) regional office in Central Luzon has met stiff opposition from the UPRIIS-NIA Employees' Association (NIAEA) for allegedly being detrimental to agriculture in the country.

In a resolution passed during a meeting last Wednesday, the 786-strong UPRIIS-NIAEA also warned that the abolition of UPRIIS and its eventual merger with the regional office would affect the plight of 62,000 beneficiaries of irrigation systems in Central Luzon, result in massive demoralization of the rank-and-file and "would sow the seeds of personal differences and divisiveness that would eventually affect the performance of a unified regional office."

The group asked Nueva Ecija Gov. Tomas Joson III and other political leaders in the province to join them in opposing the merger plans. They also asked the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to abandon the plan and maintain the current set-up.

The merger of the UPRIIS and the NIA regional office was contained in a 14-page streamlining proposal of the NIA which was approved by the NIA Board led by Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara and NIA Administrator Manuel Arevalo. The proposal has been submitted to the DBM.

The principal aim of the plan is to develop an organization of NIA which is "lean but strong, flexible enough to adapt to the environment in which NIA operates," responsive to the plans and programs and developments of both local and national levels," and "able to provide greater efficiency and better delivery of irrigation services."

The streamlining plan was reportedly based on provisions of the Medium Term Irrigation Development Plan (MTIDP), Republic Act 8435 or the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997, the Local Government Code and NIA Memorandum Order 27 which mandates all government agencies to streamline its organization.

The proposal will principally affect two of the country's largest irrigation systems namely the UPRIIS and the Magat River Integrated Irrigation Systems (MARIIS) which operate the Pantabangan Dam and the Magat Dam, respectively.

The Cabanatuan-based UPRIIS, whose service area covers 102,532 hectares is presently being headed by Engineer Antonio Nangel. The NIA regional office which is headed by regional irrigation manager Engineer Manuel Collado, is based in San Rafael, Bulacan and covers 66,803 hectares in six Central Luzon provinces.

Under the streamlining scheme, the functional supervision by UPRIIS of the Pantabangan Dam will be under the regional office. There will be one designated chief of office.

The NIAEA-UPRIIS resolution said duplication of the duties and functions of UPRIIS and Region 3 would "sow the seeds of personal differences and divisiveness that would eventually affect the performance of a unified regional office."

"Sacrificing a giant system like UPRIIS which is the show window and flagship of NIA is sacrificing its sole potential for corporate income generation, technical irrigation service and agricultural development . . .," the resolution stated.

A UPRIIS official who requested anonymity said that the proposal was not only irrational but also impractical because it would mean placing UPRIIS, which has a bigger service area and which is viable into an office which has a smaller area which is not viable at all.

"It seems inappropriate that you will place a system covering 102,000 hectares to an office covering only 60,000 hectares. 'Pag pinakain mo 'yung maliit ng malaki baka mahirinan (If you force a small one to eat the big one, it might choke)," the official said.

"Besides, we find it odd that UPRIIS which has finally become viable after 25 years, will suddenly be abolished. The timing is really suspect," the official said. He added that the proposal does not serve its purpose of cost-cutting because no personnel will be laid off, thus, only making them idle and unproductive.

The NIAEA decried the merging of UPRIIS and the regional office as "irrational," citing the de-merging of the regional offices of NIA in Regions 7 and 8 whose service areas cover only 5,373 hectares and 15,870 hectares, respectively, manned by separate regional irrigation managers.