Abolish Irrigation Service fees collected from farmers

Party-list lawmakers have found a practical and reasonable way to unburden the
nations lowly-farmers from paying irrigation service fees, and help- avert food crisis.
Hon. Anthony M. ravo and Hon. !resente !. Pae", both of Party-list !oop-
#atcco, are confident that !ongress would soon give merit to H $%&' which proposes to
amend (epublic Act #o. ))*% otherwise known as the !harter of the Philippine !harity
+weepstakes ,ffice -P!+,..
/he lawmakers seek to amend +ection 01 A of (.A. ))*% by decreasing at least five
-23. percent from the present fifty -223. percent Pri"e 4und and add instead the same to
the thirty -'53. percent !harity 4und allocated fund program of the P!+,.
/he authors e6plained that the five percent sourced from the Pri"e 4und will go to
the operating and maintenance fee of the irrigation system being managed by the #ational
1rrigation Administration -#4A..
7/he 1rrigation +ervice 4ee being collected from our lowly farmers will practically
be subsidi"ed by this proposed amendment and result to the abolition of the said fee being
shouldered by agricultural workers,8 the lawmakers said.
/hey noted that the current )23 of net P!+, receipts shall be retained as
contributions to the operating e6penses and capital e6penditures of the P!+,, while all
balances shall revert to and form part of the charity fund provided for under the P!+,
charter.
7/he disbursements of the allocations herein authori"ed shall be sub9ect to the usual
auditing rules and regulations,8 the author pointed out.
1t should be noted that under the said !harter, 7any property ac:uired by an
institution or organi"ation with funds given to it under this Act shall not be sold or
otherwise disposed of without the approval of the ,ffice of the President, and that in the
event of its dissolution all such property shall be transferred to and shall automatically
become the property of the Philippine ;overnment.8
<hat prompted the lawmakers to propose this move= /hey noted the worsening
challenges brought about by the global climate change which ma9ority of researchers have
concluded that human activities > in particular, greenhouse gas emissions > are now
significant causes of global warming.
7?roughts are already rampant in the African continent. <hile they are not getting
NR # 3595B
SEPT. 20, 2014
the needed public attention or publicity, #A+A predicts that by @5@5, between A2 to @25
million people are pro9ected to be e6posed to increased water stress,8 the authors said.
4urthermore, they noted that yields from the rain-fed agriculture could be reduced
by up to 25 percent in some regions by @5@5, agricultural production including access to
food, may be severely compromised.
7<ith these realities, our country, particularly the government should give special
attention to this concern,8 ravo and Pae" stressed.
/hey pointed out that vast land areas for rice production are still dependent on
monsoon-based periodic rainfall and its dependency is very risky because there are great
variations in the average amount of rainfall received by the various regions.
1n the wake of recent economic conditions, the agriculture sector is greatly affected
by the shortage of the basic needs of the people which is rice. 1t is 9ust proper to urgently
support the programs, pro9ects and activities of the government particularly the operations
and management of the #ational 1rrigation Administration which is one of the
implementing arms of the ?epartment of Agriculture, they argued.
7/here is always a threat to the nations food security,8 the authors concluded. -'5.
dpt