The Department of Agriculture (DA) said at least 15 million households considered to be below middle class will benefit from the government’s planned initial implementation of the P20 per kg subsidized rice by next month.
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a media briefing on Tuesday that more people could be allowed to buy the subsidized rice as both the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) have different statistics on the number of families considered to be poor.
“To be honest, it is hard to bring this for all 115 million Filipinos because it will really cost a lot. But based on my own personal assumption, we are pegging it at 15 million households, which make up 51 percent of the population, below the middle class,” he said.
Tiu Laurel also said the Commission on Elections has been considering postponing the sale of the subsidized rice to May 13, or a day after the election day to avoid charges of vote buying and electioneering.
Tiu Laurel said the decision whether the public could start benefiting from the P20/kg rice on May 2 was in the hands of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), as of April 29. The DA chief said the Comelec was still studying whether it would be better for the government to start selling the subsidized rice after the May 12, 2025 midterm elections, or May 13, to avoid allegations of vote buying and electioneering, given that local officials, many of whom are running for reelection, will be involved in selling the subsidized rice.
Tiu Laurel earlier said the subsidized rice would only be available for sale to indigents and low-income families getting cash dole out from the government, solo parents, persons with disability and senior citizens.
Tiu Laurel candidly said on Tuesday there have been proposals just to limit the program to those within the poverty line to reduce the costs on government and the potential losses farmers would incur due to the widespread availability of cheap rice. “But then, there is an option also … to only sell it to those who are considered poor,” he explained.
“Poor based on the DSWD (data) is at 1 million families and then PSA has data that 2.9 million families are considered poor. We are still figuring out which is the best and how much can be shouldered by the government,” the DA chief added.
Tiu Laurel said the government would have to consider the differing data from the DSWD and PSA as farmers and retailers’ interests should also be considered, noting that the government must “analyze all of this carefully because we don’t want to disrupt as much as possible normal course of trade.”
He said that out of the 15 million households set to benefit, 800,000 families or roughly 4 million individuals are from Western, Central and Eastern Visayas, as well as from the Negros Island Region.
The DA also clarified that the sale of P20/kg rice sourced to the National Food Authority (NFA) this year will only be a pilot test preparatory to a possible nationwide rollout expected to be implemented as early as January 2026.
Under the pilot stage of selling the subsidized rice supply, DA reiterated that it will first be offered in the Visayas region, as well as in the eight Kadiwa rolling store outlets particularly those located in Bureau of Animal Industry, Quezon City; Bureau of Plant Industry, Manila; Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority, Las Pinas; Bagong Sibol Market, Marikina; Disiplina Village, Valenzuela; Navotas City Hall; Philippine National Police-Camp Crame, Quezon City; and in the Agribusiness Development Center inside the DA’s headquarters in Quezon City.
Interested local government units (LGUs) who are willing to shoulder a portion of the subsidy will also be allowed to offer the P20/kg rice under the pilot program.
LGUs who previously participated in selling the P33-per-kg rice are priorities in the new P20-per-kilo pilot, which include San Juan City in Metro Manila, San Jose del Monte in Bulacan, Camarines Sur and Mati City in Davao Oriental, among others.
“First of all, we need the right data. We need to experience at least for six months how to operate this with a lot of factors. We also need to emphasize that among such factors is the world market price which is currently low, but what if it suddenly increases?” Tiu Laurel said.
The DA also said that the P4.5-billion subsidy to sell the NFA rice at P20/kg came from the president’s P5-billion contingency funds. From that amount, the remaining P500 million will be used for the logistics requirements of the grains, Tiu Laurel said.
The DA also assured the public that safeguards will be in place to avoid abuse in implementing the sale of P20/kg rice.
Tiu Laurel said they have started creating a software system that can scan cards provided to qualified buyers to efficiently monitor the sale and to ensure compliance with the 30-kg limit per month for every individual.
The DA said LGU participants will also be asked to provide the “accurate data” on how and to whom they will sell the P20/kg rice stocks.
The DA chief added that criticisms about the program claiming that it could be used for politics were the “least” of his problems at the moment.
“The Comelec (Commission on Elections) is there to monitor. That is the least of my problems.
“Our main task is to move out stocks from NFA warehouses so that it can be sold at the right price,” Tiu Laurel further said.
However, the DA said the decision whether the public could start benefiting from the P20/kg rice on May 2 was already in the hands of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as of April 29. Tiu Laurel said the Comelec was still studying whether it would be better for the government to start selling the subsidized rice after the May 12, 2025 midterm elections, or May 13, to avoid allegations of voted buying, and electioneering.
Based on DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, local well-milled rice sold for P38 to P54/kg on Monday while regular milled rice went for P33 to P43 per kg.
Imported well-milled rice was selling for P43 to P45 per kg while the price of imported regular milled rice ranged from P35 to P45 per kg.
Special variety imported rice fetched P55 to P60 and premium rice, P43 to P55.
Special variety local rice was selling for P50 to P65 per kg while premium rice went for P44 to P60 per kg.
