President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the P20 per kilo rice “is here to stay” and will soon be available to all Filipinos.
The president, in the 271st episode of the BBM Vlog, titled “Agriculture,” on Sunday reiterated that the P20-per-kilo rice “is achievable” and the Benteng Bigas Meron Na program “is sustainable.”
Marcos said the priority access to the P20/kilo rice has been initially limited to vulnerable sectors such as the senior citizens, persons with disabilities, solo parents, minimum wage earners and the indigent families listed as beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer system, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program beneficiaries (4Ps). But, he said, it will soon be sold in all markets in the country and to every Filipino, regardless of stature in society.
“With the cooperation of many national government agencies, and in partnership with the local governments, the P20 rice is here to stay. It is achievable, it is sustainable,” he said.
“So, look out for it in your nearest public market,” he added.
The Vlog featured the launch of the Benteng Bigas Meron Na program at the Zapote-Bacoor Public Market in Bacoor City in Cavite province, where the President led the launch last Tuesday, July 1.
To date, the Benteng Bigas is available in 94 sites nationwide. “We have more and more locations. And this isn’t just a pop-up store that will disappear after it starts. It will be sustained,” the president said.
Marcos said his administration’s programs for agriculture have been aimed not only at fostering the sector’s growth but also at promoting the welfare of farmers and fisherfolks.
He said the distribution and use of advanced technologies like the mobile soil laboratory, rice processing plants, new machinery and equipment, to farmers, would increase harvest, speed up drying, and provide efficient storage systems for both dry and cold products.
He added that new technologies would entice the youth to go into farming and agribusiness, and make it harder for rice traders to take advantage of growers and force them to sell their palay at very low prices.
He also reassured the farmers that the government, through the National Food Authority (NFA), will continue to support and buy palay from local growers at a high rate of P19 to P23 per kilo of dry palay and P18 per kilo of wet palay. He dismissed speculations that the P20/kilo rice would only force farmers to lower their palay farmgate prices.
“Reliable supply and nutritious food, that will be the harvest of a strong agricultural system…The government will ensure that it runs smoothly so that every Filipino family has an abundance of food on their dining table),” Marcos said.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) said on Sunday that beneficiaries of the Walang Gutom Program (WGP) will be able to purchase rice at P20 per kilo in accredited markets and the Kadiwa ng Pangulo stalls starting Monday, July 7.
Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian will lead the launch of the “Benteng Bigas, Meron na sa WGP,” done in coordination with the Department of Agriculture, in Tondo, Manila, on Monday.
“This will be of great help in expanding the beneficiaries’ capability to buy nutritious and sufficient food for the entire family,” DSWD Assistant Secretary and spokeswoman Irene Dumlao said in an interview with radio DzBB.
Under the WGP, beneficiaries receive P3,000 monthly food credits through electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards, which can then be used to buy nutritious food during scheduled redemption days.
Members of the beneficiary-families, however, must attend nutrition education sessions (NES) as well as ensure that at least one of them applies for a job during their inclusion in the program.
A beneficiary-family can stay in the program for three years.
Dumlao said at present, 300,000 families have been benefitting from the WGP, and the government has been working to increase the number of beneficiaries to 750,000 by 2027, to eventually put an end, if not lower, the number of food-poor persons by the end of the President’s term in 2028.
The WGP is currently implemented in parts of the National Capital Region (NCR); Palawan and Oriental Mindoro in Region IV-B (Mimaropa); Camarines Sur and Sorsogon in Region 5 (Bicol); Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental of the Negros Island Region; Cebu in Region VII (Central Visayas); Leyte, Samar, Northern Samar and Eastern Samar in Region VIII (Eastern Visayas); Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga Sibugay in Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula); Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte in Region X (Northern Mindanao); Cotabato in Region XII (Soccsksargen); and parts of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
