MANILA -- Malacañang on Wednesday said it sees the need to finish crafting the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for the Free Irrigation Service Act which grants free irrigation to farmers owning not more than eight hectares of land.
“Importante po talaga na mabuo na iyang Implementing Rules and Regulation (It is important that we finish crafting the Implementing Rules and Regulations),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview over dzRH.
“Iyan po ay hinain natin bilang isang instrumento po, para matulungan ang ating magsasaka at upang maitaguyod iyong ating food security (That was filed as an instrument to help farmers and establish food security),” he added.
Roque, however, admitted that the promulgation of the IRR for the Free Irrigation Service Act has encountered a delay.
“Ang problema po, hindi pa po nagkakaroon ng Implementing Rules and Regulation, kaya hindi pa po nagkakaroon ng pagpapatupad ng batas (The problem is, there are no Implementing Rules and Regulations, that’s why we can’t implement the law),” Roque said.
He, meanwhile, expressed hope that once the IRR is completed it would help address the country’s shortage and rising prices of rice.
“Ngayong nakikita natin na may problema tayo sa kakulangan ng bigas, eh ngayong na po ang panahon para ipatupad natin itong libreng irigasyon (Now that we see that we have problems on rice shortage it is about time that we implement free irrigation),” Roque said.
Last February 2, Duterte signed the Free Irrigation Service Act or RA 10969 which lapsed into a law in January 19.
Under the law, farmers are exempt from the burden of unpaid irrigation service fees. Unpaid irrigation service fees and loans are also condoned.
Last week, detained Sen. Leila de Lima sought for a probe into why the Department of Agriculture and its attached agency, the National Irrigation Authority is taking so long to finish the IRR. (PNA)
