NIA plans to condone P1.2-B unpaid irrigation service fees

CABANATUAN CITY — The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) is eyeing the condonation of up to P1.2 billion in unpaid irrigation service fees (ISFs) of farmers being serviced by the Pantabangan Dam, a top official of the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS) said.

"We are still waiting for the (implementing) guidelines for the condonation from the NIA central office," said engineer Antonio Nangel, newly designated acting department manager of the NIA-UPRIIS.

Nangel bared the condonation plan following the assumption of engineer Proceso Domingo as assistant administrator for systems operation and management of the NIA-UPRIIS, replacing Isidro Digal.

Nangel’s designation was contained in Office Memorandum 17 dated May 29 issued by NIA Administrator Jesus Emmanuel Paras.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Nangel, who first became operations manager in January 1997. Domingo replaced him in February 2001.

Irrigation service fees are the top revenue source of most irrigation systems in the country, which also earn income from equipment rentals, amortization from communal irrigation systems, communal irrigation projects and pump irrigation.

Revenues from ISFs are used to build new irrigation systems, maintain existing ones, and pay loans and salaries of personnel.

The collection of ISFs was provided under Republic Act 3601, 2-b and Administrative Order 17 issued on Aug. 31, 1998 by then President Joseph Estrada providing for socialized ISF rates.

Under AO 17, farmers tilling two hectares will pay the equivalent of 1.5 cavans during the dry season and two cavans during the wet season.

Those cultivating up to five hectares of land will pay 2.5 cavans and 3.5 cavans during the dry and wet seasons, respectively, while those tilling above five hectares are levied four cavans and five cavans, respectively.

For this year alone, Nangel said the UPRIIS expects to generate an income of P177 million, of which P127 million will come from ISF collections.

In the past, the UPRIIS filed several cases in court against farmers for non-payment of ISFs.

Nangel said his office also wants to expand the UPRIIS service area in Central Luzon. Last year, 4,000 hectares of farmlands in the region were not utilized for planting because the canals had not yet been rehabilitated.

The UPRIIS, which operates the giant Pantabangan Dam, is considered the biggest irrigation system in the country. It used to provide irrigation to up to 102,000 hectares of agricultural land in Nueva Ecija, parts of Bulacan and Pampanga, benefiting some 67,000 farmers.

Engineer Carlito Gapasin, acting chief of the UPRIIS’ operations and institutional development division, said that due to siltation, the dam can only irrigate a maximum of 83,000 hectares at present.