MANILA — National Irrigation Administration chief Eduardo Guillen yesterday promised to weed out corruption in the NIA as the agency faces a Senate investigation into its alleged anomalous and unfinished projects.
During the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing, Guillen was cornered by Sen. Raffy Tulfo to admit that there is corruption that caused delays in irrigation projects.
Tulfo had alleged in his privilege speech that there is wide-scale corruption in the NIA because of delayed irrigation projects that received maintenance fees even when these are unfinished.
He also accused the NIA of awarding contracts to companies with a record of not finishing its projects.
During the hearing, Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian, who also serves as the NIA board chairman, pointed to “errors” in computations or specifications on the irrigation projects as among the reasons for the delays.
Guillen vowed to weed out corruption in the agency, which he started heading in December 2022. Before his appointment, he was mayor of Piddig town in Ilocos Norte.
He noted that some delays were not due to corruption, but to “lapses.”
“Lapse is different from corruption. Just admit that there is corruption so that cases will be filed and heads will roll. Do not sugarcoat the corruption present in government left and right,” Tulfo said.
At a press briefing after the hearing, Blue Ribbon committee chair Senator Francis Tolentino said more documents are needed to prove corruption in NIA’s unfinished projects.
He said some projects might have been delayed because of the devolution to the local government units of the communal irrigation systems, pursuant to a 2021 executive order from Malacañang on the devolution of powers due to the Mandanas ruling. (philstar)
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