NIA again under OP’s supervision

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has reverted supervision of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to the Office of the President (OP) to better improve food security and infrastructure development.

In Executive Order No. 69 dated Sept. 5, the President also reorganized the board of directors of the agency, which used to be under the Department of Agriculture (DA).

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“Irrigation management and development is vital toward achieving food security and ensuring infrastructure development in the country, which are among the administration’s priority measures,” Marcos said.

He added: “It is imperative to streamline and rationalize the functional relationships of agencies with complementary mandates in order to promote coordination, efficiency and coherence within the bureaucracy.”

Created in 1963 through Republic Act No. 3601, NIA was originally a government-owned and -controlled corporation attached to OP to investigate, study, improve, and administrate all national irrigation systems.

In 2022, then-President Rodrigo Duterte issued EO 168, which transferred NIA supervision to DA.

EO 69 also reorganized the NIA’s board of directors to include representatives from OP and the private sector, the NIA administrator and secretaries of the Department of Public Works and Highways, DA, and the National Economic and Development Authority.