North Cotabato wants irrigation fund

COTABATO CITY – North Cotabato’s provincial government has asked Malacañang to allocate funds for a long-stalled irrigation system traversing rice fields in known strongholds of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Pikit, North Cotabato.

The still uncompleted portion of the irrigation system would be supplied with water from the Maridagao River, a tributary of the Rio Grande de Mindanao, which originates from the densely-forested hinterlands of Bukidnon.      

The non-functional section is part of the multi-billion Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project (MMIP) Phase I, which covers North Cotabato’s adjoining Carmen and Pikit towns, and Pagalungan, Maguindanao.

“If activated, this portion of the irrigation network can irrigate almost 2,000 hectares of land in which rice can be cultivated. This will boost rice production in the province and in Region XII, and a boost for the food security efforts of the national government,” Cotabato Gov. Jesus Sacdalan said.

Sacdalan said the project, if completed, will also enhance the government’s confidence-building efforts with MILF forces in dozens of barangays that will benefit from the facility.

Almost all of the farming villages are known common territories of the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front, whose local members rely on the propagation of rice and corn as their sources of income.

Engineer Moner Ali, who is in-charge of the Maridagao River Irrigation System, said a 350-meter stretch of the main downstream canal in Gocotan, Pikit requires a concrete base for the remaining portion of the irrigation system to be functional.

“The soil along this portion of the main canal is soft and easily erodes and caves in, thus, making the rest of the system unserviceable,” Ali said.

Sacdalan said President Arroyo can help increase productivity of MILF and MNLF members in Pikit by helping the North Cotabato provincial government bankroll the completion of the irrigation network. – John Unson