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Sunday, March 5, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Irrigators in Negros Island Region (NIR) are optimistic that the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) will continue to implement programs that can help local farmers.
NIA administrator Peter Laviña resigned. He lamented that he had become a subject of rumors that he received money from contractors.
Rosemary Caunca, president of the Negros Island Region Confederation of Irrigators Association (NIRCIA), said they were surprised by Laviña’s resignation.
They have seen the administrator’s vision for NIA, Caunca said.
They found it unfortunate that he had to leave due to corruption allegations.
“We hope to have a new NIA head who is also capable of working with people in the grassroots level,” said Caunca.
To spare President Rodrigo Duterte from embarrassing stories, particularly in these times of intensified attacks on him, Laviña said he decided to leave the government quietly.
“I have been vilified in the past. My name used, abused and maligned. Recently, there had been efforts to discredit me again,” he said. “There are rumors circulating that I have asked money from NIA contractors. These are not true.”
Aside from the free irrigation project, NIRCIA hopes NIA will sustain its development roadmap mainly aimed at helping local farmers through irrigation.
In his visit to Negros Occidental just this January, Laviña said the free irrigation program is one of the four-point agenda of NIA under the Duterte administration.
Others were increasing the country’s irrigated land areas, harnessing water resources in hydro energy generation, and strengthening the agency’s 10-year development plan.
The President appointed Laviña as NIA head in November last year. (PNA)
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