CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar – The provincial office of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), based here, has conducted a test run of a P725-million irrigation project in Basey town, some 100 kilometers south of this city. Samar Provincial Irrigation Officer Engineer Amadeo Montejo told reporters in an interview that more than 2,000 liters of water per second were delivered to the irrigation site in Basey, through a nine-kilometer main canal from the P16-million dam located at Bugasan River, which is the irrigation project’s source of water. Engr. Montejo said that the test run has partially irrigated nearly 100 hectares of the easternmost part of the 3,000 hectares to be irrigated by the project which is one of the biggest irrigation projects in Eastern Visayas, benefiting some 3,000 farmers in the area. He added that it is the target of his office to construct the lateral canals and irrigate 1,000 hectares, or one-third of the irrigable area, in the immediate cropping season and the full operation of the irrigation project by the end of 2012. (Restituto A. Cayubit)

Siaton River to be rechannelled

DUMAGUETE CITY (PNA) – Negros Oriental Governor Agustin Ramon Perdices said he wants the re-channeling of Siaton River finished before the next floods come, following an ocular inspection Thursday with Siaton Mayor Albert Ator and representatives from agencies tasked to do the work. Perdices assured the immediate deployment of heavy equipment such as a bulldozer, backhoe and a payloader to the site while Mayor Ator promised to shoulder the crude oil requirement for the heavy equipment. Re-channeling of the Siaton River has earlier been hampered by political bickering between the town’s former mayor, Vincent Arbolado and the late Governor, Emilio Macias II. This time, however, Perdices and Ator both agree that there should not be a disruption of the re-channeling project which will be undertaken with a private contractor, Wilfredo Chu of Big Foot. Chu assured both local officials will comply with the provisions of the permit, such as no operation and hauling on weekends.

Public colleges in Cebu's 1st district vowed

CEBU CITY (PNA) – Each of the six local government units (LGUs) comprising Cebu’s 1st Congressional district will have its own public college, vowed Rep. Eduardo R. Gullas. Gullas said he will support the dream of local leaders to establish a public college in their locality, making tertiary courses affordable to all constituents in his district. ”I will fully support your dream to have a community college. This is a legacy that you will leave behind to your constituents,” said Gullas. The solon, who wrote the city charters of Talisay, Naga and Carcar, is on his third term in Congress. Of the six LGUs in the district, only Talisay and San Fernando have their own public colleges. The Talisay City College (TCC), a pet project of Gullas, became the first public tertiary school in Central Visayas when it was opened in 2004. The TCC produced its pioneering batch of 293 graduates, who took up education, industrial technology and hotel restaurant service tourism courses, four years later.