Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 10969)
The short title of Republic Act No. 10969 is the 'Free Irrigation Service Act.'
The State's policy is to promote comprehensive rural development, food self-sufficiency, equitable access to opportunities, and sustained productivity by providing vital support services, particularly irrigation service, through the construction, repair, and maintenance of irrigation facilities to increase agricultural production and farmer incomes.
All farmers with landholdings of eight (8) hectares and below are exempted from paying irrigation service fees for water derived from national and communal irrigation systems funded or administered by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) or other government agencies.
No, farmers with more than eight hectares, corporate farms, plantations, fishponds, and other persons or entities drawing water for non-agricultural purposes are still required to pay irrigation service fees.
All unpaid ISF and corresponding penalties of farmers with landholdings of eight hectares and below are condoned and written off from the books of the NIA.
The NIA shall continue to develop, operate, and maintain NIS but may delegate the operation and maintenance of secondary and tertiary canals and farm ditches to capable Irrigators Associations, providing equivalent funds for their operation and maintenance.
Communal irrigation systems shall continue to be operated and maintained by irrigators associations, and the national government will provide funds equivalent to the forgone irrigation service fees for their operation and maintenance.
The NIA and other government agencies shall provide technical assistance to irrigators associations on the operation and maintenance of irrigation systems and on farm enterprises management.
The necessary funds for implementing the Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
Within three (3) months from the effectivity of the Act, the NIA, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, must promulgate the implementing rules and regulations.
If any provision of the Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, other provisions not affected shall remain in full force and effect.
This Act amends Republic Act No. 3601, as amended by Presidential Decree Nos. 552 and 1702, and repeals or modifies all laws and issuances inconsistent with its provisions.
The Act took effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in two newspapers of general circulation.