Following reports of neglected and non-operational units of Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems, or SPIS, the Department of Agriculture has ordered a thorough review of the projects.

Regional Executive Directors, or REDs, have been directed by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel to conduct the review with assistance from the private sector, led by former DA chief Emmanuel "Manny" Piñol.

The issuance of the order was following Piñol’s Facebook post about a P10 million worth of SPIS completed in 2020 in North Cotabato but not turned over to beneficiaries of DA Soccsksargen.

“The Department of Agriculture's Solar-Powered Irrigation System in Pulanglupa, Mlang, North Cotabato has become a symbol of incompetence and lack of concern and dedication on the part of government workers,” he said in his post on 13 January. “It was expected to cover about 50 hectares of rice farms in an area where farmers depend on natural precipitation. The SPIS was never able to deliver even one liter of water to the fields.”

The former DA official added that the SPIS was ‘poorly built and the water leaked,’ and that it did not include water distribution pipes or canals.

“This was the reason why local officials refused to accept the turnover of the project. The biggest disappointment was that nobody showed any concern to address the problems submitted by the farmers—leaking reservoir and absence of water distribution lines,” he said, adding that the irrigation project was his brainchild, launched by former president Rodrigo Duterte in February 2017.

With this, Laurel ordered the REDs to coordinate with Piñol in their SPIS review and assessment that includes “SPIS units that are fully functional and their impact on increasing rice productivity, including contributing factors to their successful operations; non-working SPIS units and the reasons behind their failure; and technical assessment of existing SPIS units, including recommendations on how to improve the program.”

Based on DA’s records, over 200 SPIS units have been completed nationwide.