PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte named his campaign spokesperson and now Deputy Cabinet secretary Peter Tiu Laviña as the new administrator of the National Irrigation Administration, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Tuesday.
“With Laviña at the helm of NIA, I expect smoother coordination between the [Department of Agrculture] and the water agency of the government, especially in the area of the scheduling of the release of irrigation water for the rice farms which had been a problematic issue for so long,” Piñol said.
“Laviña’s appointment as the new NIA head is a welcome relief for the DA especially since the agency, while officially under the Office of the President, is one of the most important agencies supporting Philippine agriculture,” he added.
Laviña, one of Duterte’s former aides during his term as Mayor of Davao City, served as Duterte’s campaign spokesperson while his wife Evelyn is currently Undersecretary of the Agriculture department.
Laviña will replace Florencio Padernal, whom Piñol accused of derailing President Rodrigo Duterte’s Free Irrigation Program.
Piñol’s former provincial irrigation officer, Maguindanao engineer Czar Sulaik meanwhile will assume the post of Deputy Administrator for Operations.
Piñol had earlier proposed for the NIA should be brought back under the supervision of the DA, after it was placed under the supervision of the Presidential Adviser on Food Security, then headed by Senator-elect Francis Pangilinan.
The NIA receives 60% of the total collection from the Irrigation Service Fees by the irrigators’ associations to pay for the salaries and wages of its employees.