Gov’t to use Cebu setup for rice program

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Monday said his government would adopt Cebu’s distribution system to streamline the national rollout of the P20 per kilo of rice program.

Speaking in Dumanjug, Cebu during an election rally, the President said the plan includes deploying a “smart application” to manage the distribution of the subsidized rice more efficiently.

“We have seen how successful the system here in Cebu has been, and we want to replicate that success across the country,” he said in Filipino.

He said he had asked Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Fiel Garcia-Codilla, who has been suspended by the Ombudsman, if the National Government could replicate their model.

“They’ve had a system in place for a long time,” Mr. Marcos said. “They’ve had IDs for a long time. The truth is, when we saw Cebu, they already had a system for distribution, even the applications they use.”

One of Mr. Marcos’ battle cries during the 2022 presidential election was making rice affordable.

The initiative, seen as a bold measure to address food insecurity and rising living costs, aims to subsidize rice prices for low-income families.

One of the first local rollouts of the P20 per kilo rice program was in Cebu.

However, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Department of Agriculture quickly halted its launch because they were concerned that it violated election-related restrictions on public spending and aid distribution during the campaign period. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana