To ensure that the flow of irrigation water to more than 430 hectares of rice fields in the mountains of Barangay Malibay in the town of San Miguel and in Barangay Kalawakan in Doña Remedios Trinidad (DRT) is properly absorbed, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) has upgraded the irrigation canal to an elevated lateral canals attached to the Bulo Dam.
In a report by NIA Administrator Eduardo Guillen during the dialogue held last week with farmers during the ocular or study visit conducted by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, he emphasized that this is proof that the public funds spent on its construction directly benefit ordinary farmers.
Aside from being a source of irrigation, Bulo Dam also serves as a water impounding facility that can store about 2.60 million cubic meters of water.
The entire structure of the old Bulo dam was destroyed during the height of Typhoon Pedring in 2011.
It was learned that since that incident , the nearby town of San Miguel has been experiencing sudden and major flooding every year.
That’s why the NIA changed its design from being just on the ground it is now made of concrete.
The project began in 2018 to 2022, with an allocation of over P1 billion through a multi-year scheme or annual allocation approved by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
The main structure of the Bulo Dam is 30.70 meters high where the soils, hardened by large blocks of rocks clogged the Bulo River.
At the border, the main canal and spillway of the said dam are 140.38 meters long.
In this regard, Senator Gatchalian stated that among the criteria to determine whether the allocated funds approved by Congress are being used correctly is the implementation of projects and whether the beneficiaries participate in their formulation.
He said it is clear that this is being implemented in the NIA due to constant dialogue and consultation with all irrigators associations as evidenced by the members of the Malibay-Kalawakan Irrigators Association and the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Systems.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has also completed the concreting of a two-lane farm-to-market road that reaches the entrance to Bulo Dam where it runs along the barangays of Malibay to Tartaro in San Miguel.
