Imee Marcos bats for expansion of Zamboanga del Sur dam

INQUIRER FILES

PAGADIAN CITY — Sen. Imee Marcos is calling for the expansion of Mahayag Dam, which irrigates some 7,000 hectares of farmlands in the first district of Zamboanga del Sur, to irrigate more farmlands in Zamboanga del Norte and neighboring provinces.

Marcos made the pronouncement during the distribution of 2,467 land titles to 2,088 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) here on Friday, Dec. 13.

She said that with the high price of fertilizers and other farm inputs, farmers need more assistance from the government. One of the assistance that the government can give is the construction of bigger irrigation projects like the Pantabangan, Magat, and Angat dams in Luzon, the senator added.

While a dam is already being built in the Visayas, none is being constructed in Mindanao, Sen. Marcos said, adding that the facility could possibly be built in the Zamboanga Peninsula.

Zamboanga Del Sur First District Rep. Divina Grace Yu said the Mahayag Dam, built during the administration of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was recently damaged, and the administration of his son President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has allocated P450 million for the ongoing rehabilitation of the dam.

Sen. Marcos said it would be good to expand the Mahayag Dam to cover the towns in Zamboanga del Norte and surrounding provinces, and foreign partners like Japan would be interested in funding it.

Sen. Marcos also said she wanted to start in Mindanao a program that would give poor farmers an incentive of P2,000 – P3,000 per month.

Meanwhile, Agrarian Reform Assistant Secretary Rene Colocar led the distribution of land titles, which also included certificates of condonation with the release of mortgage (CoCRoM) and e-titles under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling or Project Split.

Colocar said the distribution covered a total of 2,790.9 hectares in the entire province.

DAR also turned over to 17 ARB organizations nine units of farm machinery and equipment and a P4-million processing center under the DAR’s ARB Development and Sustainability Program.

With the turnover of land titles and machinery, Sen. Marcos said she hoped that farmers could make their farms more productive and loosen themselves from the grip of debt payment from the Land Bank of the Philippines and the DAR.