The Commission on Audit (COA) resident auditors led by Regional Supervising Auditor, Atty. Marvin Andrew C. Lee conducted an entrance conference with National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Region 9 officials headed by Regional Manager June Nathaniel S. Plaza on September 13, 2023 at NIA-9 Function Hall, Balintawak, Pagadian City.

With this conference, the COA targeted to verify the level of assurance placed in the NIA’s management’s on its financial statements. It also aimed to communicate the results of test of compliance with selected provisions of laws, and regulations; recommend measures to improve the economy and efficiency of the agency’s operations, as well as to determine the extend of implementation of prior year’s audit recommendations.

Earlier today, the NIA Region 9 conducted the “Kadiwaan sa NIA: Tabo-an”, a program that gives opportunity to Irrigators Associations (IAs) to sell their farm produce and other products to the public, held at NIA-9 Regional Office, Balintawak, Pagadian City.

Previously called EPAHP Tabo-an, the agency adopted the name “KADIWAAN SA NIA: Tabo-an” to align to the Kadiwa initiative of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., which aimed to help local producers earn higher income by eliminating intermediaries and, at the same time, allow consumers to buy agricultural products and other goods at a lower price.

NIA-9 has been conducting the said undertaking for a year now and plans to tie-up with the City and Provincial Government so that more people will be able to buy the products of the IAs.

For today’s event, consumers coming from different government agencies within the Regional Government Center of Pagadian as well as employees from NIA Regional Office supported and purchased the IA’s local products.

Various national government agencies and bureaus again gathered for the 3rd National Irrigation Administration – National Government Agencies (NIA-NGA) Convergence organized by NIA-Region 9 led by Regional Manager June Nathaniel S. Plaza, held at NIA-9 Function Hall, Balintawak, Pagadian City on September 12, 2023.

During the meeting, RM Plaza emphasized the timely distribution of interventions and assistance to be given to the farmers especially in terms mechanization, seeds & fertilization. He stressed that “we will walk the talk”, meaning, all initiatives and commitments presented during the meeting will be put into action immediately. Results should be realized accordingly so that the Irrigators Associations will surely benefit from the actions and programs of the government.

Even on a weekend, NIA-9 Regional Manager June Nathaniel S. Plaza spearheads the 4th Toolbox Meeting at NIA-9 Conference Room, Balintawak, Pagadian City to relay his guidance and directives as well as to assess the remaining and ongoing projects of the region.

One of the significant highlights discussed during the meeting is the early completion of remaining works. Thus, he instructed all
field office managers to meet with all the contractors in order to discuss strategies and catch-up plans of the projects being implemented.

With the goal of becoming an efficient irrigation agency, one of the initiatives of NIA Region 9 is to enhance the knowledge of its technical staff by utilizing new irrigation-related and useable tools. Hence, a two-day training on Water Distribution Design Workshop using EPANet was conducted on September 7-8, 2023 at NIA-9 Function Hall, Balintawak, Pagadian City.

EPANet is a computer program that performs extended period simulation of hydraulic and water-quality behavior within pressurized pipe network. A network consist of pipes, nodes (pipe junctions), pumps, valves and storage tanks or reservoirs. Through this application, data and calculations are done quickly and accurately, which is very applicable in irrigation projects.

45 design engineers of the agency participated in the said training. Meanwhile, the resource speakers are expert master plumbers of Pagadian City namely Engr. Alzhammer R. Manupac and Engr. Jhon Eudard Obordo.