IT took two Philippine presidents and an Edsa hero to finally set into its final leg, the completion of the Balog-Balog irrigation, one of the most expensive irrigation projects in the country, and arguably, one of the longest in the making.
In his speech during the mass turnover of irrigation projects to Irrigators Association held recently in Manila, Tarlac Gov. Victor A. Yap said that in 1963, the young Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., said the Balog-Balog irrigation—although seemingly impossible to be funded at that time—would answer the need of the province for irrigation.
“The province [waited] for many years, for big ticket projects, such as this, to answer its need for better rice production,” Yap said.
The actual construction of Balog-Balog irrigation canal and a dam started during the presidency of Corazon Aquino, after she was catapulted to power through Edsa I revolution.
After several years of operation serving limited numbers of rice fields, the government has funded the continuation of the irrigation, according to Yap.
The P13.3-billion Balog-Balog Multipurpose Dam Project (BBMP) Phase II involves the construction of new irrigation service for about 21,935 hectares and stabilization of water supply to the currently irrigated areas of 12,475 hectares developed under BBMP Phase 1 in Tarlac, including the construction of a multi-purpose high dam that will provide irrigation and flood management.
The project was part of the P27.69-billion infrastructure projects on transportation, irrigation, fire safety and local development approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) board early this month.
“The approved projects on irrigation and roads in provinces will help facilitate local growth and development among the projects’ covered regions or areas in the country,” Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said in an earlier statement.
However, a study by state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) has identified some serious technical problems and issues in the country’s irrigation systems that need to be resolved
immediately. Early this year, in a statement, the PIDS noted that irrigation has been receiving the largest share of the total agriculture budget, “but its performance has always been below expectation.”
“For years, the actual irrigated areas for most irrigation systems in the country had all been consistently below the target,” PIDS said.
The study noted that this has been due mainly to overestimation of irrigable areas by not fully accounting for built-up areas or urbanization, flooded areas during the wet season, and elevated areas that cannot be reached by gravity irrigation systems.
The study, titled “Appraisal of Methodology in Estimating Irrigable Areas and Processes of Evaluating Feasibility of NIA [National Irrigation Authority] Irrigation Projects,” commissioned by Neda and the Department of Budget and Management to PIDS, are intended to be used as inputs to the budget process.
The PIDS study looked into four irrigation systems in the country, namely, Angat-Maasim River Irrigation System in Bulacan, Balog-Balog Irrigation System in Tarlac, Pampanga Delta Irrigation System, and Casecnan-Upper Pampanga River Irrigation System also in Pampanga.
According to the study, Balog-Balog and Casecnan irrigation areas cover or overlap within two watershed boundaries, noting that since both systems deliver water by gravity, the efficiency of the design of these irrigation systems where the canal network traverses another watershed is “questionable.”
For the proposed P8-billion Balog-Balog Dam, the PIDS study pointed out some serious technical and financial issues that NIA should resolve before proceeding with the construction of the dam.
“First, the budget for the construction of this massive dam with a height of 105 meters and a crest length of 1.4 kilometer appears to be underestimated,” the study read.
“Normally, a dam this size is designed to have a spillway capacity associated with the probable maximum flood of between 100-year and 200-year return period floods. A dam being overtopped because of an inadequate spillway is an unacceptable risk,” it added.
During turnover, NIA administrator Florencio F. Padernal said 57 percent of the 6.1 million hectares irrigable land have been irrigated, and since last year until the middle of this year, the agency has spent P2.5 billion to irrigate some 135,800 hectares of service areas nationwide.