Fund subsidy allotted to reduce rice prices

Congress has earmarked a budget for a subsidy program to drive down the cost of rice amid the rising price of the commodity in the market.

Speaker Martin Romualdez announced on Tuesday, a day after Congress approved the Marcos administration's proposed P5.768-trillion budget for 2024.

The bicameral panel, composed of members of the House and the Senate, reconciled the disagreeing version of the 2024 General Appropriations Bill on Monday, paving the way for the approval of the final version of the national spending budget for next year.

On the same day, the Senate and House ratified the bicam report.

The proposed national expenditure for next year is P500 billion higher than this year's year's-trillion spending program. It was the highest in history approved by Congress.

The subsidy program, according to Romualdez, will be pulled out under the 2024 national spending. Congress, however, has yet to disclose the amount.

The program, he said, aims to enable families to buy 25 kilograms of affordable and good-quality rice monthly. It is the House's response to President Marcos' directive for the legislative body to roll out initiatives that will trim down the fluctuating cost of essential goods such as vegetables and rice.

Roughly seven million families or 28 million Filipinos across legislative districts are expected to benefit under the subsidy program, initially dubbed Bagong Pilipinas Community Assistance and Rice Discount or CARD.

"This is a recalibration of our Cash and Rice Distribution Program, and we made it more sustainable by transforming it into a rice discount voucher program so that more families can enjoy buying affordable rice," he said.

Beneficiaries of the program will be given discount vouchers intended to procure the staple grain at a discounted rate.

He added that the program shows all Filipinos that Congress and the administration of President Marcos Jr. are doing everything to bring down the price of rice for a more significant number of Filipino families.

"The welfare of the Filipino family is our priority in this project," Romualdez said.

The House earlier vowed to sustain efforts to provide Filipinos with the most affordable essential goods in the market, particularly rice, which reportedly had gone up.

The Department of Agriculture's latest price monitoring report showed that regular-milled rice ranges from 33 to P52 per kilo, while well-milled is at P45 to P55 per kg.

Premium rice, meanwhile, costs between P50 and P62 per kilo, while special rice varies between P52 and P68.