• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Friday (April 25) joined other Visayas governors in supporting the P20 Rice Program, which will be piloted in the Visayas.
Lacson said it was Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia who brought up the idea of selling rice at P20 per kilo, in support of the campaign promise of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to lower rice prices.
The proposal is that the rice will be bought at P33 per kilo by the government from producers.
The national and local governments will subsidize the amount of P13, and sell it by P20 per kilo to the identified beneficiaries.
The Visayas governors target the last week of April for its implementation.
Lacson, however, said it may take a while to implement, pending identification of local government units (LGUs) on the sources of funds to be used in the purchase of rice.
Lacson said he was assured by Jose Albert Barrogo, OIC regional executive director of the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Negros Island Region, that they will provide freshly-milled rice, not older than three months.
With a population of 2,618,672, Negros Occidental is consuming 693,300 bags of rice daily, or 16,639,200 per 50-kilo bag annually, according to records of the Office of the Provincial Agriculture.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. earlier said the program aims to procure rice in bulk and sell it at P20 per kilo to selected beneficiaries from the marginalized sectors, mainly the indigent sector and those from low-income communities.
Laurel said that under the program, the price difference, which is currently around P13 per kilo, will be shouldered by the national government through the Food Terminal Inc. and the LGUs.
He added that the national government and the LGUs will equally shoulder the difference between the market price and the selling price.
“As of now, we are thinking of two templates. One is we can sell a maximum of five kilos per week per family, and another one is 10 kilos per week. So, the maximum that we can sell is 10 kilos per week, so 40 kilos per month per family,” Laurel said.
The budget for the subsidy is estimated to be between P3.5 billion and P4.5 billion, depending on the LGUs’ participation and the volume of rice to be sold.
The President has directed the DA to ensure the sustainability of the program until the end of his administration in 2028. | GB
