Senator Cynthia Villar on Friday scolded the officials of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) for failing to provide the details on the released funds for the P11.2-billion Jalaur River Multi-purpose Project Phase II (JRMP II) in Iloilo.
At a Senate budget hearing, Villar was asking the NIA officials how much government funds were already released for the construction of the dam project.
The Jalaur river project has a total project cost of P11.2 billion, of the said amount P8.9 billion was funded through a grant from the South Korean government while the P2.2 billion will come from the Philippine government.
Villar asked the NIA officials why are they requesting for another P50 million under their proposed budget for 2022.
In their presentation, NIA officials, led by Administrator Ricardo Visaya, showed that the revised cost of the project is at P13.36 billion. This is under the review of National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) for its approval.
“There are pending for evaluation at the NEDA for increase in cost that is why we allocated P50 million,” a NIA official said.
Villar then asked if the P2.2 billion from the Philippine government for the construction of the project was already released.
According to the NIA officials, the release of P2.2 billion funds is on staggered basis, from 2021 up to 2022.
NIA failed to provide the figures of the released funds on the yearly basis which did not sit well with the senator.
“Alam niyo pag nagawa kayo ng report wag niyo ko bigyan ng kadami-daming detalye na hindi ko naman makita ang whole picture. ‘Pag ikaw ang nagma-manage ng kompanya, dapat within your mind memorize mo ang whole picture of your agency,” she said.
(If you are doing a report, don’t give us so many details because we are not getting the whole picture. If you manage the company, you should memorize the whole picture of your agency.)
“HIndi ‘yung bibigyan n’yo ‘ko ng report na gulong-gulo ako at ako pa ang nag-oorganize ng thoughts ko kung ano ba ‘tong report na ‘to,” she added.
(Don’t give me report that is not understandable. I had to organize my thoughts first before I understood this.)
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, who was also asking for updates on the Jalaur project which is being built in his hometown, lloilo, suggested that a separate briefing be conducted with him to check the status of the construction.
Before Villar ended the briefing on NIA’s proposed P31.45 billion budget for 2022, she reminded the officials to submit concise reports to her office.
“Magtanong na kayo mamaya, ang ibibigay ninyo sa aking report e katulad ng report sa Jalaur maloloka ako. Magbabalik na naman tayo, maghi-hearing na naman tayo, kasimple-simple lang ng Jalaur,” she said.
(Ask all the information that you need before giving the reports to me. I’ll go crazy if that would be similar to your report on the Jalaur project. We would need to go back here and conduct another hearing if that would be the case. The Jalaur project is very simple.) — BAP, GMA News
Villar scolds NIA execs for failing to explain particulars on Jalaur River project
Source: Pinoy Hub News
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