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. It emphasizes ensuring vital support services like irrigation service are available to increase agricultural production and farmer incomes, including providing free irrigation services to reduce production costs for farmers.
All farmers with landholdings of eight (8) hectares and below are exempted from paying ISF for water derived from national irrigation systems (NIS) and communal irrigation systems (CIS) funded, constructed, maintained, and administered by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) or other government agencies.
No. Farmers with more than eight (8) hectares of land, corporate farms, plantations, and persons using irrigation water for non-agricultural purposes are required to pay ISF.
The free irrigation service applies to water from national irrigation systems (NIS) and communal irrigation systems (CIS) that are funded, constructed, maintained, and administered by NIA and other government agencies or turned over to irrigators associations.
All unpaid ISF and corresponding penalties of farmers with eight hectares and below, as well as all loans, past due accounts, and corresponding interests and penalties of irrigators associations to NIA, are condoned and written off from NIA's books.
The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) shall continue to develop, operate, and maintain national irrigation systems but may delegate operation and maintenance of secondary and tertiary canals and farm ditches to capable irrigators associations, providing funds for such O&M.
Communal irrigation systems shall continue to be operated and maintained by irrigators associations. The national government shall provide the equivalent funds for their operation and maintenance in lieu of the discontinued ISF collection from exempt farmers.
The Act took effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in two newspapers of general circulation.