Barely a week after the appointment of Hon. Florencio F. Padernal as NIA administrator, he surprised the farmers and NIA employees in Negros Occidental by his unannounced visit where he demonstrated a fast-paced and more responsive NIA services.
Armed only with a camera, tablet and stored knowledge and experiences, the Administrator squeezed his time and attended a dialogue with the farmers, inspected the Bago River Irrigation System, participated in the Pre-Construction Conference, visited a communal irrigation system and conducted a meeting with the contractors.
The productive dialogue with the farmers yield optimism. The administrator noted the farmers concerns on poorly maintained irrigation roads, delayed repair of damages caused by typhoons, excessive water conveyance losses due to earth canals and the threats on water shortage due to water permit applications of private persons to draw water from Bago River. These concerns were put in writing and hand carried by the administrator who traveled alone.
As an engineer himself, the administrator quickly noted interventions that should be done to further improve the delivery of services when he personally inspected the irrigation systems. He said, he would include in his targets the installation of CCTVs in major dams across the country for efficient monitoring particularly during floods and droughts.
A down to earth public service was demonstrated when Engr. Padernal stood from his chair an assist in posting of visual aids during the pre-construction conference for the Maragandang Augmentation project participated by the local officials, irrigators' associations, project contractor and other irrigation stakeholders. He engaged the commitment of the attendees to closely monitor the project and report immediately any irregularity that they may observe.
The contractors were advised to hasten project construction, otherwise NIA will impose necessary measures. The administrator promised to return within 60 days and personally assess the progress of work. Before he depart, Engr. Padernal congratulated Engr. Lorena B. Sioco, Officer-in-Charge of Negros Occidental Irrigation Management Office and Ms. Rosemary R. Caunca, President of League of Federation of Irrigators Association for the cohesive team work of NIA, LGUs and the farmers through their Irrigators' Associations.