House okays rice fund use to buy palay from farmers

The amount to be used for the purchase of palay would be sourced from the P33.9-billion rice subsidy fund under the 2019 national budget.

The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading on Tuesday the proposed measure that authorizes the use of the remaining P6.97 billion in the rice subsidy fund to purchase palay from local farmers.

The lower chamber voted 206 affirmative and zero negative the House Joint Resolution 22 in a move to provide assistance to farmers whose incomes were affected by the continuous drop of palay prices.

The amount to be used for the purchase of palay would be sourced from the P33.9-billion rice subsidy fund under the 2019 national budget.

A huge portion of the fund was used in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), whose beneficiaries received a rice subsidy in the form of financial assistance amounting to P600 per month.

The remaining amount in the rice subsidy fund, meanwhile, is given to military uniformed personnel to provide them with 20 kilos of rice per month in the form of financial assistance.

The newly approved measure proposed that the DSWD, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense, Department of Transportation, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and local government units, in coordination with the National Food Authority and the Department of Agriculture, directly purchase palay from local farmers, with the rice subsidy now to be distributed in actual rice instead of cash.