Lacson awaits mechanics on selling rice P20 per kilo

NEGROS Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson is awaiting the mechanics on the selling of rice at P20 per kilo in the Visayas.

Lacson said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. will hold a meeting with all regional directors in the Visayas on Monday, April 28, to discuss the mechanics on how to go about the selling of rice at P20 per kilo.

He said he failed to attend a meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Cebu City last week due to his prior campaign commitments in the province.

He added that a week ago, he was also informed by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who proposed the idea of selling rice at P20 per kilo, and explained to him how it will go.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) earlier announced the pilot launch of P20 per kilo of rice in the Visayas as one of the campaign promises of Marcos during the 2022 presidential race.

“We are the pilot because Visayas is organized. The idea was to implement it immediately, but I don’t think it can be done immediately, because we have to identify the source of fund to purchase the rice,” Lacson said.

He said this rice is not actually worth P20 per kilo; this is P33 per kilo where the excess in P20 will be subsidized by the local government unit and the National Government.

He added that the rice supply will be taken from the National Food Authority (NFA).

“If this [is] pushed through, let’s make sure it’s an edible rice and not for an animal,” Lacson said.

Lacson said that initially, it will be limited to 10 kilos for every household per week or a total of 40 kilos every month, and they cannot sell it to the rice retailers.

He said this program will prioritize the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries and the LGUs will also identify their selling areas.

“We will have to find out and determine the total number of bags of rice will be supplied per month to the province, and we will have to identify where the funds will come from,” he added.

The governor noted that Negros Occidental is still under state of calamity because of Kanlaon, but as much as possible, Negros Occidental will do its best to be part of this program.

Laurel earlier said that initially, the DA targets to implement the P20 per kilo of rice until February 2026 but Marcos wants it to last until the end of his term in June 2028. (MAP)