House ‘Appro Chair’ vows support for NIA fund hike

FARMERS and other rural-based workers can now heave a sigh of relief after ACT-CIS partylist representative, Eric Yap, assured his support for the return of the P4.2 billion “slashed” budget of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

In a talk with Pinoy Exposé, Yap, chairman of the powerful Committee on Appropriations in Congress said, agencies “deserving” of budget allocation under the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget for next year would get the money they need.

During the start of the budget hearing last week, NIA administrator and former Armed Forces chief, Ricardo ‘Bong’ Visaya, warned that the country’s rice production would be affected if the NIA’s budget proposal of P4.2 billion for the rehabilitation of irrigation systems is not restored.

“The mostly affected is our irrigation systems restoration program, particularly the communal irrigation system,” Visaya said, in answer to the query of Magsasaka party-list representative, Argel Cabatbat.

“As to making new projects, which takes a very long period of construction, what we are proposing is to repair irrigation systems which are no longer working. Sadly, it’s the one whose budget was slashed,” he added.

The NIA is proposing an annual budget of P32.09 billion for next year, which is already 11 percent lower from its current budget of P36.05 billion.

Citing the broken super diversion canal system in Rizal, Nueva Ecija, Visaya said its continued state of disrepair stands to affect the continued use of at least 30,000 hectares of farm lands.

Yap, who is also representing the congressional district of Benguet, said he would support the return of the fund slashed from the ‘Communal Irrigation System’ (CIS) of the NIA made by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

“I am from Benguet, which also relies on farming and from my (regular) visits, what farming communities need is irrigation, Yap added.

The solon also bared that together with House Deputy Speaker and Davao City representative Paolo Duterte and Davao Occidental representative, Claudine Diana Bautista, they filed HB 7569, seeking to increase the basic pay of nurses working in private hospitals.

Especially during this period of pandemic, Yap said that the country’s frontliners, nurses especially, should be compensated adequately.

“At the very center of this battle against the virus stands our unyielding nurses who care the for the sick, bravely risking their own lives,” the bill’s explanatory note said.

Yap also noted that while nurses in government hospitals are already receiving anywhere from P19,845 to P30,531 in salary each month, those in private hospitals only receive an average of P9,757.

“I think it’s time for private hospitals to also care for their own workers and nurses,” Yap added.