February 15, 2025

Emmanuel "Manny" F. Piñol

Official Website

Open Letter To NIA Adm. Eddie Guillen! Apo Eddie,

Open Letter To NIA Adm. Eddie Guillen!
Apo Eddie,
Once again, the saying that “The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions” is proven true in the case of the P10-B Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project (MMIP) designed to boost rice production in my home province of North Cotabato and the neighboring Maguindanao del Sur.
Over 30 years since the construction started, interrupted by bloody battles, kidnapping of Chinese engineers and marred by serious issues of corruption, the MMIP now only serves about 20% of the projected service area for irrigation.
In a scandalous case of Engineering Miscalculation, the MMIP has instead made life miserable for the farmers in the low-lying areas of the town of Pikit.
The massive elevated Irrigation Main Canals trapped water in at least 1,000 hectares of former agricultural production areas in several barangays of Pikit.
The water level has risen to waist high and inundated even the homes of farmers forcing them to move to higher grounds.
The area had been turned into a virtual water world where former rice and corn production areas are now underwater and filled with water lilies.
I visited the area last Sunday after the officers of the Batulawan-Ladtingan-Ginatilan Irrigators Association (BALAGI) sought my help in solving the problem which had ruined their livelihood and destroyed coconut farms.
Farmers, including Ladtingan Barangay Chairman Boy Quiñanola, said they referred this problem to the NIA Field Office, DPWH and the Provincial Government but nothing had been done over the last 8 to 10 years.
Chairman Quiñanola, who is also an engineer, said the solution to the problem is simply the dredging of a silted Kalawag Creek which flows into the Liguasan Marsh.
All the agencies they sought help from, however, had been pointing fingers at one another.
I am writing this open letter because I would like people to understand that you are an action man and let them witness how you respond to problems like this.
Your immediate action will relieve our farmers from this decade-old problem and prove to them that government listens to the cries of our people.
Dios ti agngina, Apo Eddie!
Your friend,
Manny Piñol