Sari-sari store owners to get P15K

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the Department of Social Welfare and Development to give cash assistance to sari-sari (small) store owners, aside from rice retailers affected by the temporary rice price cap.

A Palace statement said DSWD will hand cash aid to those affected by the rice cap from 25 September to 29 September. DSWD added that the Department of Trade and Industry will help determine beneficiaries of the P15,000 cash assistance.

Through Executive Order 39, the President implemented a P41 price cap on regular rice and a P45 price ceiling on well-milled rice.

According to its recent report, the DSWD had given P92.415 million to help 6,161 of the 8,390 micro and small rice retailers affected by EO 39.

Meanwhile, the DSWD said the Marcos administration will continue to donate illegally imported rice to needy families in the country following the President's order.

DSWD Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez told a news forum over the weekend that the agency will keep giving out rice assistance as long as the authorities seize smuggled rice.

"That's the President's and Secretary Rex Gatchalian's mandate that as long as donations are coming in, we will continue to distribute or share them with our fellow countrymen because we know the needs of our less fortunate Filipinos," he said.

Lopez added that the government hopes that the rice distribution campaign will send a strong message to people who illegally import, hoard, or sell it for profit.

The message, he said, is that the illegal goods they bring in illegally could end up being given away to low-income families.

"If they are involved in rice smuggling activities, their products will most likely be donated. So that's why we encourage our fellow Filipinos to do away with these illegal activities," Lopez said.

The DSWD gave rice to 1,200 beneficiaries in General Trias, Cavite, last Friday, with each person getting 25 kilograms. The agency also distributed rice in Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga City in Mindanao.