THE Department of Justice has thumbed down the claim of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on properties and assets of the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) in its jurisdiction, saying its authority extends only to communal irrigation system (CIS).
In a legal opinion dated July 8, the DOJ through Undersecretary Nicholas Felix sided with the NIA which sought its legal opinion on the interpretation of Section 37, Article XIII (Region Economy and Patrimony) and Section 11, Article XVI (Bangsamoro Transition Authority of Republic Act 11054 or the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The NIA took the position that the authority granted to the Bangsamoro government in Section 37 is limited only to CIS, adding that pursuant to Section 11, the properties and assets that it should turn over to the latter should be confined to CIS in the region.
On the other hand, the Bangsamoro Government Intergovernmental Relations Body (IGRB) took the view that its authority is not limited to CIS, and that properties and assets to be transferred to it should include, among others, the NIA office building in Cotabato City.
Despite several meetings to find a solution, the NIA and IGRB failed to resolve their opposing views, hence the request for a legal opinion from the DOJ.
The DOJ, siding with the NIA, said, “After a careful review of the applicable laws and jurisprudence, we opine that the Bangsamoro Government’s authority over the irrigation system in the BARMM extends only to communal irrigation system and thus, only the properties and assets confined to the CIS should be turned over to the Bangsamoro Government.”
The DOJ further said that under Section 2 of Presidential Decree 552, the authority to “operate, maintain and administer all national irrigation systems is vested in the NIA.”
“The cited provision also provides that the NIA, has among others, the authority to temporarily administer all government-funded communal and pump irrigation systems,” the DOJ added.
It also said the BARMM Law authorizes the Bangsamoro government to exercise its power over the irrigation system in the region.
The DOJ said the Bangsamoro Administrative Code shows that “there is no ministry or agency created in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region that performs the function of the NIA.”
“Nothing in the powers and functions in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR), which is the Department of Agriculture’s counterpart in the Bangsamoro Government, can be considered as similar to the NIA’s primary mandate to construct, improve, rehabilitate and administer irrigation systems,” the DOJ said.
