The government has been urged to irrigate at least a million hectares of farmlands throughout the year to ensure farmers can plant year-round and resolve the food supply issues in the country. In a letter to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., businessman Oscar I. Violago, who started and pioneered the successful $680 million Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power project together with his partner, California Energy, which was later acquired by Warren Buffet’s Mid-American Energy, urged the government the development of shallow wells (as deep as 30 meters) based on the Israeli-solar power technology. “Without water during the dry season, our farmers will remain hopeless and helpless. The only and best solution therefore, is to make water available to our farmers throughout the year,” he said in his letter to the President. If the country cannot secure enough food production, he said the government will continue importing rice and subsidize the foreign farmers instead of Filipino farmers. Violago shared that Israel offers to the Philippines to build solar irrigation with shallow wells on a government-to-government basis. According to Violago, the project endorsed by Sen. Cynthia Villar and  approved by the National Development Authority three years, but still needs the president’s approval. He said the Israelis were willing to build the shallow wells solar irrigation payable in 15 years with a 3-year grace period at a price per hectare of P150,000,  which he said is 50 percent lower than what the National Irrigation Administration is currently paying for.  Violago has also proposed the same project to the Department of Finance. Based on his  computation, irrigating one million hectares of land would cost P12 billion for 15 years at P150,000 cost of irrigation per hectare. But this should make the Philippines an exporter of rice, corn, vegetables, among others. “If we can afford to borrow hundreds of billions of pesos for our subways, airports and other large infrastructure projects, why can we not do the same for our farmers?” he asked. He further noted that if the government can spend billions for 4Ps annually, why not spend the same for Filipino farmers. ”Our solar irrigation in shallow wells areas in one million to 3 million hectares will make us food self-sufficient, rice and corn exporters, and improve the lives of our farmers. This will be a great legacy for  the President,” he said. Violago, who spearheaded the Casecnan project and operational since 2001, is now irrigating 137,000 hectares of new ricelands thereby producing an additional 465,000 metric tons of rice per year. The farmers in Nueva Ecija can now plant throughout the year even during the El Niño phenomenon. It is also producing 150 MW of hydropower and created 18,000 new jobs in the process. Violago is also a partner of the Wawa Bulk Water Supply Project, a joint venture of Violago’s San Lorenzo Ruiz Builders and Developers Group, Inc, (SLRB) and Prime Infra of business tycoon Enrique Razon. The water supply is a private off-take arrangement between water concessionaire Manila Water Company (MWC) and Wawa JVCO. It will ensure water supply delivery of 80 million liters per day (MLD) by 2022 and 500 to 750 MLD upon completion of its 85 meter high dam. It will also help minimize the flooding in the Marikina and Pasig Rivers and Metro Manila. It was inaugurated last December 6, 2022 and it was a very memorable day for Violago because after 29 years his dream finally became a reality. In 1993, when he applied for the water rights, nobody believed his vision, he said. He was criticized for the project and that Wawa was a dirty river. He is also developing another 1000 MLD water source for Metro Manila together with Maynilad of the MVP Group. He is also going to offer 1000 to 2000 MLD for Davao City and a big water supply to Cebu. Currently, Violago has embarked on several projects involving water supply and renewable energy. For renewable energy, SLRB has applied for more than 6,000MW of solar power capacity. Through Olympia Violago Power Inc., (OVPI), Violago is also developing the 500MW Wawa River Hydropower Project with Razon. In the same area, OVPI will apply for another 1,000MW of pumped storage and is aiming to develop a total of 5,000MW or more of pumped storage all over the Philippines as a much-needed battery for renewable energy.