This is in reaction to the news story “Pangilinan decries death of 30 dogs, warns of 90-year jail term vs culprits” (Inquirer.net, 12/12/17) in which Sen. Francis Pangilinan called for the application of the full force of the law on the person responsible for the death of the dogs. Many people, especially animal lovers, would praise the senator for his concern for the welfare of animals but to farmers in the service area of the Upper Chico River Irrigation System (Ucris) in Tabuk City, Kalinga, and in the towns of Quezon and Mallig in Isabela, his action is a mere affectation.
During Pangilinan’s watch as presidential assistant for food security and agricultural modernization from May 6, 2014 to Sept. 15, 2015, by virtue of which he was also the board chair of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Ucris farmers suffered the most devastating disaster in memory. They were unable to plant in the second cropping incurring an estimated P1-billion-worth of unrealized harvest because the irrigation system was
waterless from Aug. 20 to Dec. 28, 2015. A 256-meter portion of the main canal was washed out during the height of Typhoon “Ineng” which hit the province on Aug. 20, 2015, and it took four months and P100 million from the Quick Response Fund of the NIA to get the
system back in service.
The washout took place because the contractor of the then ongoing P425-million World Bank-funded Ucris rehabilitation project by Markbilt Construction/RD Policarpio and Co. Inc. had failed to install the intake gates of the irrigation system before the typhoon struck. The absence of the gates allowed the water of the swollen river to flow unimpeded into the canal. As a measure to protect the canal, the NIA closes the intake gates during storms.
The disaster could have been avoided. As early as late 2014, the Ucris Federation of Irrigators Association had already been appealing through letters and meetings with NIA officials headed by Administrator Florencio Padernal for the immediate installation of the intake gates which, under the work schedule of the rehabilitation, should have already been done in June 2014 but these fell on deaf ears. The federation and some sympathetic organizations in the province had also demanded for the rescission of the contract with Markbilt due to runaway slippage—more than 50 percent at the time of Ineng—but the NIA authorities refused to heed the clamor.
Throughout the crisis and even if he was made aware of the situation, Pangilinan was unheard from.
On hindsight, it was not just the costly washout which vindicated the clamor of the farmers and their allies for the immediate rescission of the contract with Markbilt. When the contract lapsed early this year after two extensions, it was only 54-percent completed thereby further delaying the completion of the rehabilitation work and the full enjoyment of the usefulness of the irrigation system.
ESTANISLAO ALBANO JR., casigayan@yahoo.com