Peter Tiu Laviña Resigns as NIA Chief

Duterte’s campaign spokesperson and former Davao City councilor, Peter Tiu Laviña, has sumbitted his resignation as National Irrigation Administration Chief in the midst of allegations of corruption. Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella on 1 March 2017 confirmed the resignation during a Malacañan press briefing.

The statement from the Office of the Cabinet Secretary states, “NIA Administrator Peter Laviña has tendered his resignation amidst attempts to vilify, discredit and malign him and to spare the President from any embarrassment due to these attempts. It is with this deep regret that our office receives this news and we wishes him well in his next endeavors.”

Laviña has been allegedly involve in corrupt practice of forcing contractors of various NIA projects to allot 40 percent of contract prices to kickbacks.

President of the Federation of Free Workers, Jose Sony Matula said that the President disclosed his removal of Laviña as NIA administrator before the start of a meeting with labor leaders on 27 February 2017.

“I have been vilified in the past; my name used, abused and maligned. Recently, there had been efforts to discredit me again. There are rumors circulating that I have asked money from NIA contractors. These are not true!” Laviña said. “To spare the President from these embarrassing stories, particularly in these times of intensified attacks on him, I have quietly left government. I have neither personal vested interest in it nor ill intent towards NIA and the whole government, which we are trying to reform, “ he added.

In January 25 of this year, Laviña has ordered all the National Irrigation Administration–Central, Regional, and Project Offices to publish all the ongoing and proposed irrigation systems for 2017 saying, “I would like to make available to the public the lists of projects in their areas of jurisdiction.” The NIA chief also directed all the Regional Managers to timely post all the irrigation projects for bidding on Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PHILGEPS). He added, “This will help promote open and transparent governance and likewise dispel speculations that NIA is keeping the list to favor certain contractors.”