HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
RECEIVED

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REGISTRATION UNIT
BILLS AND INDEX SERVICE

Republic of the Philippings
HOUSE OF REPRESENTA’
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONG!
First Regular Session

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House Bill No. 294

Introduced by Representatives
Horacio P. Suansing, Jr. and Estrellita B. Suansing

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The agriculture sector is the backbone of the national economy as the
country remains agricultural, where farmers and farm workers, who
comprise the vast majority of the population, till the lands for their
livelihood and for the benefit of the entire nation.

Irrigation is one of the primary factors for the growth of agricultural
productivity. However, 1.34 million hectares of irrigable lands in the country
are still without irrigation.

Irrigation is needed to increase the productivity of farmers especially
in the production of major staples ~ rice and corn - and is therefore key in
ensuring the food security of the Filipino people. It likewise plays an
important role in making crop diversification viable as it generally enhances
multi-cropping even during the dry season.

Given the strategic importance of irrigation in pursuing sustained
agricultural growth and development, rice self-sufficiency, food security, and
the upliftment of the welfare of Filipino farmers, it is the obligation if the
state to provide free irrigation services.

In the Philippines, however the government, adopting the World
Bank’s principle that water resource is a commodity, has been implementing
various finance mechanism to collect irrigation services fee (ISFs) from
farmers.

Farmer-beneficiaries of the National Irrigation System (NIS) program
administered by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and Irrigators
Associations (IA) under the Communal Irrigation Systems (CIS) are forced to
pay exorbitant ISFs. This has led to huge amount of back accounts or



unpaid ISFs. These back accounts, which are imposed with penalties and
interests have further burdened the already poor farmers with bigger debts.

The government has justified such unfair collection by propounding
the highly unsound argument that the funds collected are necessary to pay
for the salaries of the more than 5,000 NIA employees and workers.

Moreover, despite the fact that water, as a natural resource, belongs
to the people and should not be subjected to the control and utilization of
local and foreign big corporations for profit, the government promotes the
privatization of water services to the sole advantage of private businesses
and to the detriment of the people especially the farmers.

Meanwhile, under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program of the
government, $1.1-billion worth of dam and water projects are being
auctioned off for investment to local and foreign private companies. Big-
ticket dam projects funded through the national budget are being built
primarily for power generation purposes and only secondarily for irrigation
services.

Since 2009, the government has entered into the Participatory
Irrigation Development Project (PIDP), a World Bank (WB)-assisted project
that aims to transform the NIA into a strategically-focused and financially
viable irrigation service through restructuring and reform programs in the
irrigation sector that will include purportedly the rehabilitation and
modernization of the NIS and the rationalization of the NIA.

It is the farmers, however, who are expected to shoulder the payment
of such loans through cost-recovery arrangements under the PIDP. This is
on top of the already high ISFs collected by the NIA from farmer-
beneficiaries who avail of irrigation services.

Farmers, irrigators associations and stakeholders in the agriculture
sector are united un demanding for free irrigation services, the abolition of
irrigation service fees collected by the National Irrigation Administration
(NIA), and for a genuinely just program that will accelerate irrigation
development nationwide.

In view of the foregoing, immediate passage of this bill is earnestly

sought.

HON. HORACIO)P. SUANSING, JR. IN. ESTRELLITA B.
24 District, Sultan Kudarat 1st District, Nuega Ecija


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No.__2.94

Introduced by Representatives
__ Horacio P, Suansing, Jr. and Estrellita B. Suan

AN ACT

ABOLISHING IRRIGATION SERVICE FEES AND SUCH OTHER SIMILAR
OR RELATED FEES FROM BENEFICIARIES OF IRRIGATION SYSTEMS
FUNDED AND CONSTRUCTED BY, OR UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION
OF THE NATIONAL IRRIGATION ADMINISTRATION, AMENDING FOR
THE PURPOSE CERTAIN SECTIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 3601,
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 552 AND PRESIDENTIAL DECRESS NO.
1702

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short title. This Act shall be known as the Free Irrigation
Services Act.

SEC, 2. Declaration of Policy. It is hereby declared the policy and
obligation of the State to adhere to the principle of integrated and holistic
program of support services that will alleviate the situation of farmers and
nurture them to unleash their full capabilities as productive forces of
society.

The state adheres to promote comprehensive rural development
through increased agricultural production and the adoption of necessary
and sound measures to accelerate the achievement of self-sufficiency in
food, equitable access to opportunities and sustained productivity as key
strategies to raise the quality of life in rural areas and overall national
development.

Toward this objective, it shall endeavor to provide the necessary and
vital support services and assistance to farmers, including but not limited to


inputs to production, production support, post-harvest facilities and
irrigation services.

SEC. 3. Stoppage of the Collection Fees. The collection of irrigation
service fees (ISFs) and such other similar or related fees from beneficiaries of
irrigation systems funded and constructed by, or under the administration
of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), including the collection of
back accounts and the corresponding penalties thereof, shall all be stopped
upon the passage of this Act.

SEC. 4, Construction, Repair and Maintenance of National Irrigation
Systems. For the purpose of ensuring the necessary construction, repair
and maintenance of irrigation systems administered by the NIA, the required
amounts shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).

SEC. 5. Government Subsidy for the Management of Irrigation
Systems. The State shall provide the necessary subsidies to farmers and
irrigators associations and cooperatives to ensure the effective and
grassroots-based management of irrigation systems, the funding of which
shall likewise be included in the annual GAA.

SEC. 6. Repeal of Section 2, Paragraph (c) of Republic Act No. 3601
entitled, “An Act Creating the National Irrigation Administration”:

“Section 2. Powers and objectives. The NIA shall have the following
powers and objectives:

REXX

(c) To collect from the users of each irrigation system constructed
by it such fees as may be necessary to finance the continuous
operation of the system and reimburse within a certain period
not less than twenty-five years the cost of construction thereof:

REE

SEC. 7. Repeal of Section 1, Paragraph (b) of Presidential Decree (PD)
No. 552 entitled “Amending Certain Sections of Republic Act
Numbered Thirty-Six Hundred and One, entitled, “An Act Creating the
National Irrigation Administration”:

Section 1. Section 2, Republic Act Numbered Thirty-Six Hundred and
One, is hereby amended to read as follows:

“Section 2. Powers and Objectives. -- The NIA shall have the following
powers and objectives:


EEK

(b)

To charge and collect from the beneficiaries of the water from all
irrigation systems constructed by or under its administration,
such fees or administration charges as may be necessary to
cover the cost of operation, maintenance and insurance, and to
cover the cost of construction within a reasonable period of time
to the extent consistent with government policy; to recover
funds or portions thereof expended for the construction and/or
rehabilitation of communal irrigation systems which funds shall
accrue to a special fund for irrigation development under
Section 2 hereof;

Unpaid irrigation fees or administration charges shall be
preferred liens, first, upon the land benefited, and then on the
crops raised thereon, which liens shall have preference over all
other liens except for taxes on the land, and such preferred
liens shall not be removed until all fees or administration
charges are paid or the property is levied upon and sold by the
National Irrigation Administration for the satisfaction thereof.
Judicial actions for the collection of unpaid irrigation fees or
charges, drainage fees or other charges which the National
Irrigation Administration is authorized to impose and collect,
shall henceforth be governed by the provisions of the Rules of
Court of the Philippines for similar actions, the provisions of
other laws to the contrary nothwithstanding.

XXEK

SEC. 8. Repeal of Section 1, Paragraph (b) of Presidential Decree No.
1702 entitled, “Amending Section 3 of Republic Act No. 3601, As
Amended by Presidential Decree No. 552”:

“Section 3 of Republic Act No, 3601, as amended by Section 3,
Presidential Decree No. 552, is hereby amended to read as follows:

KXEX

(b

Operating Capital. - All amounts collected by the National
Irrigation Administration as irrigation fees, administration
charges, drainage fees, equipment rentals, proceeds from the
sale of unserviceable equipment and materials, sale of all
reparation goods allocated to the defunct Irrigation Service Unit
and the National Irrigation Administration, and all other income
shall be added to its operating capital.


‘The National Irrigation Administration is hereby authorized to
impose as an administration and engineering overhead charge,
5% of the total cost of projects undertaken by it, which shall
likewise form part of its operating capital.

REX

SEC. 9. Separability Clause. If any provision or part hereof, is held invalid
or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision thereof shall
remain valid and subsisting.

SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. Any law, presidential decree, issuance,
executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation
contrary to, or inconsistent with, the provisions of this Act or may be
considered either expressly or impliedly, to grant the National Irrigation
Administration the power to levy any kind of irrigation fee or any kind of
monetary imposition is hereby repealed, modified or amended accordingly.

SEC. 11. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette.

Approved,