Press Release

NIA Central Office - The Association of the Regional Directors and Operations Managers of the Philippines (ARDOMA), Inc. held its conference in Ilocos Norte, Region I on February 23-26, 2023. The four-day activity was commenced by a meeting conducted at the Plaza del Norte Hotel and Convention Center, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. The highlight of the conference was the visit made by the ARDOMA, Inc. led by its President, Engr. Jimmy Apostol, to the Municipality of Piddig, Ilocos Norte. No other than the former chief executive of Piddig, currently, the NIA Acting Administrator, Engr. Eduardo Eddie G. Guillen, toured the group and unraveled the humble beginnings of their municipality. 

Piddig, Ilocos Norte, a third-class municipality is nestled along a foothill offering panoramic views of fields and mountains. A once sleepy town known too as the historic town of Basi (sugar cane wine) revolt, Piddig was conferred recognition as Galing Pook Awardee at the Malacañang Palace, last November 22, 2022, a prestigious award of the country’s top performing local government units.

NIA Region XII – The National Irrigation Administration, under the leadership of Acting Administrator Engr. Eduardo Eddie G. Guillen, fast-tracks the completion of the Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project – Stage II (MMIP-II) in the Municipality of Pikit, North Cotabato. Despite numerous challenges on peace and order, security, and natural calamities, the project is expected to be completed by December 2023.

Originally, MMIP was a P3.1-billion irrigation covering 13 barangays in Cotabato and four (4) barangays in Maguindanao with a target area of 10,840 hectares to benefit 4,549 farmer-beneficiaries. The project was intended as a peace-building measure and as a catalyst to improve the lives of the farmers and other stakeholders.

With the completion of the MMIP Phase I, a total of 5,562 hectares in Maridagao service area and 1,611 hectares in Upper Malitubog service area have been provided with irrigation service. With its significant socioeconomic benefits and opportunities through job generation from project implementation stage to agricultural production stage, the project was instrumental in transforming the previously war zone area to an economic zone.

NIA Central Office – At last, after several dialogues and negotiations with the Bugkalot Indigenous Cultural Community/Indigenous Peoples (ICC/IPs) affected by the Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project (CMIPP) in the Provinces of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya, the decades-long lingering issue involving the Bugkalots and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) has finally ended.

Under the leadership of Acting Administrator Engr. Eduardo Eddie G. Guillen, the Bugkalot Indigenous Cultural Community/Indigenous Peoples voluntarily opened the barricades to the CMIPP in Barangay Pelaway, Alfonso Castañeda, Nueva Vizcaya on February 13, 2023 after the successful negotiation among the Bugkalot Ancestral Domain Environmental Management Council (BADEMC), Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), and the NIA, with the assistance of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

Prior to this, the impacted Bugkalots received the advance payment of Disturbance Fee from the NIA and PSALM pursuant to the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for Corporate Social Responsibility. This is part of the NIA and the Bugkalot IPs agreements to finally settle concerns and requests over the operation of the CMIPP situated within their ancestral domain. Continuing coordination between the NIA and the BADEMC is ongoing to ensure resolution to all issues surrounding the Bugkalots and CMIPP.