The government said more than 12 million Filipinos had benefited from the program as of July, with P20 rice then available at about 800 outlets nationwide.
AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. spearheaded the sale of P20 rice under the program ‘Benteng Bigas, Meron Na!’ in Lingayen, Pangasinan.
Philippine news agency
The Marcos administration said it has funding to sustain the P20-per-kilo rice program through the end of his term in June 2028, with most of the additional funds released by the President still unused, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
“It’s really helping a lot of people,” Tiu Laurel said in a Sunday statement, referring to the program’s assistance to households facing high food costs.
The program, called “Benteng Bigas, Meron Na!” was initially aimed at vulnerable sectors and has since been expanded through government outlets and local government units.
The government has said it could reach as many as 60 million Filipinos, or about 15 million households.
The government said more than 12 million Filipinos had benefited from the program as of July, with P20 rice then available at about 800 outlets nationwide. The DA earlier said it was targeting 1,500 outlets by year-end.
The funding allows the government to continue the subsidy while limiting the P20 price to qualified consumers instead of requiring rice retailers nationwide to sell at the same price.
Tiu Laurel said imposing a P20 retail price across the broader market could hurt farmers because of their production costs.
The P20 program was part of Marcos’ 2022 campaign promise to make rice more affordable.
The government has since implemented the P20 price through a targeted subsidy rather than applying it to all rice sold in the market.
However, Tiu Laurel acknowledged that production conditions were more favorable when the promise was made.
The war in Ukraine in 2023 and tensions in the Middle East this year have contributed to higher fuel, fertilizer, shipping, and other agricultural costs.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that, despite headline inflation easing for four consecutive months in August, rice inflation continued to rise, reaching 19.4 percent in August from 17.1 percent in July.
Ample supply
Tiu Laurel Jr. said that the country has adequate food supplies for now, but warned that recent typhoons and enhanced southwest monsoon rains could push vegetable and fish prices higher in the coming weeks.
“We have sufficient rice stocks because of the harvest and the front-loading of imports as we prepare for the impact of El Niño,” Tiu Laurel said. “The bigger near-term concern is food inflation in high-value crops and fishery products, as flooding has damaged farms and fish ponds and disrupted the flow of goods to markets.”
The government has also warned of an upcoming Super El Niño season, which could adversely affect rice supply in the coming months, adding to food inflation pressures while headline inflation remains under pressure from oil supply disruptions in the Middle East.
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