Pila, Laguna – The National Irrigation Administration recommences its repair and construction activities of irrigation facilities in CALABARZON. This is in consonance with the NIA Memorandum Circular No. 53 s. 2020 that was released on April 23.
Said Memorandum is in response to the Government’s effort towards food security amid the state of public health emergency. As stipulated in the Memo, NIA instructed its field offices to issue Skeletal Workforce ID as a Quarantine Pass (QP) to contractors and its workers for purposes of maintaining and construction irrigation projects.
“The resumption of our repair and construction activities on our irrigation facilities portray our commitment to continually support our Filipino farmers in providing and securing food for the nation amid this health crisis”, said Regional Manager Romeo Lopez.
In addition, NIA field offices must secure coordination with Provincial and Local Government Units to ensure smooth and unhampered project implementation. The contractors/workers are also told to submit a certification from a duly licensed physician to assure that the personnel are physically fit to work and he/she is not exhibiting any COVID-19 symptoms.
The contractors are also responsible in providing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to their respective personnel and that NIA field offices must ensure the compliance with all appropriate safety protocols during the conduct of construction activities.
“Ang reminder lang sa atin sa pagpapatuloy ng ating mga pagawain sa patubig, ay dapat hindi ma-apektuhan ang anumang farming activities ng ating mga magsasaka”, he added.
RM Lopez instructed all field personnel to always coordinate with Irrigators Associations (IAs) and farmers to establish a win-win situation taking into consideration improvement of irrigation facilities and early wet planting season.
The continuation of aforesaid activities is in line with Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Advisory which states that movement of food and essential goods shall remain unhampered. The repair and construction and repair activities are also in response with Department of Agriculture (DA) Memo Circular No. 9 which emphasizes that all farming and fishing activities shall continue to ensure sufficient food supply across the country.