LLANERA, Nueva Ecija – The National Irrigation Administration opened on Feb. 1 the P55-million newly rehabilitated siphon that supplies irrigation water from Pantabangan to nearly 40,000 hectares of ricefield upstream in several northern municipalities of Nueva Ecija and Tarlac provinces.
“Tinarget talaga ng NIA na maihabol na makapagpatubig talaga ng February kasi okay pa rin e. Kasi February, March, April, May, mag-aani ka pa rin. Malayo pa ang bagyuhan,” noted NIA administrator Engr. Eddie Guillen during the opening ceremonies.
Completed exactly one month ahead of the March 1, 2026 target, Guillen said the early commissioning of Talavera River Super Diversion Canal Siphon in Barangay San Nicolas here enables farmers to plant a full dry cropping season in areas serviced by the NIA-Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System’s Divisions V and VI consisting nine municipalities and two cities covering 39,748.93 hectares.
Around 26, 335 individual farmers benefit from the submerged facilities.
The NIA should have started release of water for the said areas as early as Dec. 1, 2025 but had to forego when the siphon barrel was heavily exposed due to series of typhoons and alleged illegal quarry operation in the area.
The siphon was originally constructed from 2003 to 2005 with a 4-barrel rectangular reinforced concreted structure with inside dimensions of 2.70 meters by 2.70 meters each and a total length of 396 meters.
Having the siphon that pumps up Pantabangan water accross Talavera River constructed far stronger than its former design, Guillen said the UPRIIS could expand its service to more than 300 hectares of ricefield.
Taking positive insights from the damage incident, the NIA chief said it sheds light to their aim of upgrading cropping intensity in irrigated areas or making two croppings in one dry season.
“Ang number one na kailangan ng food security ay irrigation infrastructure,” he said, adding that Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. places food security on top of his administration’s agenda.
Engr. Alvin Manuel, department manager of NIA-UPRIIS, said the Talavera River SDC Siphon is a critical component of the irrigation network serving large portions of Nueva Ecija which is widely regarded as the country’s rice granary.
The commissioning was also attended by Engr. Robert Suguitan, NIA senior deputy administrator; Felipe Tres Largo of the office of Sen. Francis Pangilinan; regional technical director Arthur Dayrit of Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office 3; officials from the local government of Llanera, division managers and section chiefs of NIA-UPRIIS, irrigators’ association president Dante Lazatin and farmers.
