Marcos: ‘Promise’ of cheap rice COMING TRUE in Visayas
“P20 per kilo [of] rice. That was the promise — and today, we begin to make it real, starting in the Visayas.”
President Marcos posted this message on his Facebook and Instagram accounts on Wednesday, recalling a promise he made in his 2022 campaign to bring down the price of the staple.
Mr. Marcos was supposed to announce it in an afternoon event at the Cebu Provincial Capitol, where he flew after a program in Laguna earlier in the day.
He instead held a closed-door meeting at the capitol with the governors of the Visayas provinces, led by Cebu’s Gwendolyn Garcia, to discuss the initial rollout of the plan next week, barely three weeks before the May 12 elections.
The day before, Vice President Sara Duterte was in Danao City, Cebu, where she thanked supporters of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained in The Hague, Netherlands, to face charges before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in over his brutal war on drugs.
Mr. Marcos was accompanied by Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.
Speaking to reporters, Laurel said the program would be launched in Central, Western and Eastern Visayas as well as in the Negros Island Region because “there are more people in need in these regions.”
“But of course, the eventual intention of this program, once we sort out all logistical issues and figure out how to properly operate and manage it, is to launch it nationwide,” he added.
Excess rice stocks
Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla, who was in the meeting with President Marcos, admitted that launching the program in the Visayas, which has a voting population of about 13 million, may be perceived as politically motivated since the elections were just a few weeks away.
But he also noted that the Department of Agriculture (DA) had enough rice supply that could be sold at a cheaper price.
“Now people are asking if this is sustainable because it might be gone soon. But they have rice—just to quote (the DA) — they have 380,000 metric tons of rice. That’s more than enough. I don’t think we can consume that within the year,” he said.
“So they want to dispose of these. They were in a hurry (and asked us) ‘would you like to sign up now?’ We governors were all blank because this was the first time we heard this. They are accelerating the agreement and the purchase,” he said.
“Why? Are they in a hurry for politicking? No. They have warehouses full. They cannot buy palay from the farmers because they don’t have a place to put it. So they have to dispose of it right away. That is why they are in a hurry. That is the gist of the meeting,” Petilla said.
Aside from Petilla and Garcia, also present during the meeting with the President were Governors JC Rahman Nava of Guimaras, Jose Enrique Miraflores of Aklan, Edwin Ongchuan of Northern Samar, Manuel Sagarbarria of Negros Oriental, Jake Vincent Villa of Siquijor, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, Damian Mercado of Southern Leyte, Gerard Roger Espina of Biliran, and Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo. Board Member Fe Tan Arcales represented Samar province.
Effective until 2028
Laurel said the President instructed the DA to implement the program up to 2028, or the tail end of the Marcos administration, although it was initially designed to last only until this December or February next year.
According to the DA, each family availing of the P20-per-kilo rice may buy a maximum of 10 kilos a week or 40 kilos a month.
Funding for the initial rollout is estimated at P3.5 billion to P4.5 billion, which will come from the national budget, he said.
He explained the program’s launch was also influenced by the need to release the surplus of rice supply from Iloilo.
“Then we also have to move out our stocks from other areas because the other reason that the DA needs to do this is that our warehouses are still really full of rice and palay (unmilled rice),” he said.
Although prevailing retail prices are far from the P20 per kilo level, Tiu Laurel said the DA “has been working day and night to bring this to reality.”
He acknowledged that the goal was unattainable last year as global rice prices hit a 15-year high.
As of Tuesday, locally produced regular milled rice retailed from a low of P33 to a high of P43 a kilo in Metro Manila markets, lower than the P48-P52 range in the same period a year ago, according to the DA’s price monitoring.
Imported well-milled rice, meanwhile, was being sold at P42 to P48 a kilo. —REPORTS FROM JULIE M. AURELIO, JORDEENE B. LAGARE, NESTLE SEMILLA-DAKAY AND ADOR VINCENT MAYOL
