Noy to confer awards on 20 former NIA chiefs today

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – President Aquino will confer awards on 20 former administrators of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) during its 50th   anniversary celebration today.

Receiving awards are former administrators Fiorello Estuar, Cesar Tech, Federico Alday, Jose del Rosario Jr., Apolonio Bautista, Rodolfo Undan, Orlando Soriano, Cesar Gonzales, Orlando Hondrade, Jesus Emmanuel Paras, Proceso Domingo, Baltazar Usis, Arturo Lomibao, Marcelino Tugaoen Jr., Carlos Salazar, Alexander Reuyan and Antonio Galvez.

Posthumous awards will also be given to the families of the late administrators Tomas de Guzman, Alfredo Juinio and Manuel Arevalo.

Accompanying Aquino at the NIA Complex along Edsa in Diliman, Quezon City are Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and NIA administrator Antonio Nangel.

The celebration carries the theme: “NIA at 50: Serving the farmers with excellence and commitment to continue its legacy in the years to come.”

Nangel said NIA’s 50th anniversary comes at a time when the central office and all its 17 regional officials achieved financial viability, the first time in a half-century. In 1983, NIA only had three viable regional offices.

Nangel said NIA has come a long way from an agency saddled with various problems like extremely low collection of irrigation service fees and slow release of funds for construction of projects over the past few decades into one which has demonstrated the capability to meet the expanding needs of national development.

“On its 50th year, the NIA central office and all our various regional offices are now viable. This is phenomenal. Indeed, this is now the dawning of the Golden Age for NIA,” he said.

At the end of 2012, NIA generated P3.7 billion in total revenues, compared to expenditures of P2.4 billion, giving it a robust net income of P1,306,597,000 for the entire year.

Nangel said NIA is focused not only on its mandate of irrigation development, but also on construction of mini-hydro power plants along irrigation canals, eco-tourism in reservoir, and potable water supply.

Last year, the government approved three irrigation projects worth P19.7 million, namely Phase 2 of the Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation Project in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, Phase 2 of the Jalaur River Multipurpose Irrigation Project in Iloilo, and the Umayam River Irrigation Project in Agusan del Sur, he added.

Lorna Grace Rosario, NIA deputy administrator for administrative and financial management, said the central office posted a net income of P451 million, 34 percent of the total net income.     

In terms of monetary value, the Magat River Integrated Irrigation Systems (Mariis) and the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Systems (Upriis), operators of the Magat and the Pantabangan Dams, respectively posted the highest incomes followed by Regions 12, 10 and 7.

Mariis posted a net income of P252.5 million and Upriis P238 million.

Upriis is under the stewardship of engineer Josephine Salazar, who made history as the first woman operations manager of the system.

Robert Suguitan, NIA deputy administrator for engineering and operations, said the attainment of corporate viability is not only a tribute to the priorities given irrigation, but also the help of various stakeholders from the regional, operations and project managers to irrigators’ associations and farmers.

“It’s a concerted effort,” he said. “You can’t just attribute it to one factor. But we have to give due credit to President Aquino for spearheading the effort. He made it all happen.”

NIA is expanding its service areas by 150,000 hectares by the end of this year.

To achieve this, it prioritized short-gestation projects, fast-tracked irrigated area rollout and promoted crop yield-enhancing farming system. It also adopted water saving irrigation methods, including controlled irrigation practices.

Based on NIA records, the country has 10.3 million hectares of agricultural lands, of which 3.1 million hectares are irrigable, with 3 percent devoted to rice and corn.

Irrigated land areas have increased to 1.73 million hectares in 2012 from 1.48 million hectares in December 2010.

NIA was created through Republic Act 3601 on June 22, 1963 during the Macapagal administration. Its mission was the development and management of water resources for irrigation and provision of necessary services on a sustainable basis consistent with the agricultural development program.