MANILA, Philippines—Beginning December, the sale of cheap, government-subsidized rice priced at P18.25 a kilo, will finally be limited to holders of the family access cards (FACs) in the National Capital Region and those families listed in the rice allocation ledger (RAL) in the provinces.
In a statement, the state-owned National Food Authority said these two mechanisms would be validated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to ensure that only the rightful beneficiaries will gain access to the subsidized rice.
The sale of the NFA rice will be limited to specific Tindahan Natin outlets, located in areas with identified family access card holders.
"In focusing rice distribution of the affordable rice to families that really need assistance, the low income group and underprivileged sector are assured of benefiting from pro-poor programs of the government," said NFA Administrator Jessup P. Navarro.
It was only late last month that the country's economic managers had approved the government's earlier plan of limiting the sale of NFA rice to FAC holders.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap had explained that the government took time in limiting the sale of government rice "to give local government units floating time" to come up with a list of families qualified for family access cards and submit these lists to the DSWD.
Yap had noted that if the NFA keeps the price of rice at P25-P30 a kilo in local public and retail markets, this would greatly help stabilize the commercial price of the staple at P28-P32 a kilo. Since the middle of the year, some NFA outlets had begun selling government rice at P25-P30 a kilo.
He pointed out it should be incumbent for the government to ensure that the food subsidy is targeted, especially since it is spending billions of pesos for rice imports.
This year, the Philippines had bought 2.3 million metric tons of rice worth an estimated $1.5 billion. For 2009, the government had initially pegged 1.5 million MT for rice importation, as indicated in its proposed budget.
