Malacañang is looking at the possibility of including a budget for the P20/kg rice in the 2026-2028 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the Palace spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Right now, the government’s “Bente Bigas Mo” (BBM) program is subsidized by both the national government and LGUs for the rest of 2025., Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said in a public radio broadcast.
By including the program under the GAA, the administration can sustain and expand the BBM program nationwide even without the subsidy from local government units (LGUs).
Castro said the next step is to include the program in the GAA from 2026 to 2028.
This will sustain the program for the remainder of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term.
“For 2026 until 2028, the plan is to have a budget for this. This won’t be like having assistance from the LGUs,” Castro said.
“So, what is also needed here is a budget. That’s the plan. To have a budget for this,” she said in Filipino.
Castro said the government is banking on the local farmers to have a good harvest so that the National Food Authority (NFA) will have the rice supply that will be sold to the public under the BBM program.
The P20 per kg rice was launched in Cebu on May 1 before the rest of the Visayas were included, but only after the LGUs committed to support and subsidize the program.
The program will be rolled out in parts
of Mindanao in July and September.
NFA rice, which is usually sold at P29 and P33 per kilo, is now sold at P20 a kilo in LGUs and Kadiwa Centers. It is available to the indigent and other vulnerable sectors of the country.
To make this possible, the national government and LGUs shouldered the cost in excess of P20.
The P20 per kg rice fulfills a campaign promise of Marcos when he ran for the presidency in 2022.
President Marcos, in a separate podcast interview, said it took time for his administration to fulfill its promise as they had to first address the issue of corrupt rice importers and smuggling syndicates.
Marcos said there was rampant rice importation, hoarding and smuggling when he assumed the presidency.
He said there were also some people in the government who were involved in the rice smuggling.
These issues are being addressed with the help of law enforcement agencies and other government offices conducting joint raids on illegal warehouses and going after unscrupulous rice traders and smugglers, the president said.
The administration also implemented reforms at the NFA, as well as reviewed and amended some laws, and improved rice production in the country, Marcos added.
