Palace on Sara Duterte’s reply to P20-per-kg rice: ‘Don’t be a termite’

Vice President Sara Duterte gestures as she delivers a statement following her impeachment by the House of Representatives. Photo taken at her office in Mandaluyong City on February 7, 2025. (REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez)

MANILA, Philippines — “Let’s not allow crab mentality to prevail, and let’s not be termites in society.”

This was the message of Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro to Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday.

She made the comment after the vice president called the plan of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to sell rice at P20 per kilogram in Visayas as just another attempt to deceive Filipinos.

At a briefing on Thursday, Castro said such an allegation is not new.

However, she questioned why Duterte was making this statement now, just as the administration was finally fulfilling its promise.

“They’ve long been making an issue that the president’s aspiration to provide rice at P20 per kilo seems unachievable,” Castro said.

“Now that this aspiration is gradually being realized, why are they speaking up again? It’s becoming negative,” she added.

“Hopefully, our leaders — true leaders and true Filipinos — should support their fellow Filipinos, especially the country’s leader,” she said.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco “Kiko” Tiu Laurel Jr. announced the plan to sell rice at P20 per kilogram on Wednesday, following the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Duterte criticized the move, calling it an attempt to manipulate Filipinos.

“Well, I don’t really know what their motive is. Maybe, yes, they’re trying to mislead the people again — fooling them once more with that P20-per-kilo rice promise,” Duterte said in a mix of English and Filipino in an ambush interview held the same day.

Politics and rice

Duterte also observed that the administration-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas might be having difficulty securing votes in Visayas, which might explain the program’s pilot implementation in the area.

However, Castro dismissed this outlook, saying: “First of all, NFA [National Food Authority] has abundant stocks in the said area,” Castro said.

“And they are the first ones to express cooperation with the president in terms of giving them subsidies. This is why Visayas is first. This is also backed as true by [Cebu] Governor Gwen Garcia,” she added.

“Let us not block it. Let us not prohibit the people from buying cheap rice. Once again, this is for the people. Let us not allow the people to go hungry,” she went on.

Although the program was announced amid the campaign for national and local elections, Castro said it has no smear of politics, and candidates must not take advantage of it.

“Dapat po hindi po sila involved, dapat nga po ang kanilang mga mukha ay hindi makikita sa mga tarpaulin patungkol po dito,” she said.

(They should not be involved; in fact, their faces should not even appear on the tarpaulins related to this.)

“Ang pagbibenta po ng bigas sa halagang P20 kada kilo ay para po sa taumbayan, hindi po para sa mga kandidato,” Castro added.

(The selling of rice at P20 per kilo is for the people, not for the candidates.)

Rice quality

Castro further criticized Duterte, particularly her pronouncement that the rice to be sold at a low cost was fit only for animals.

Duterte said: “When we say rice at P20 per kilo, we mean rice that people can actually eat. The one being sold at P20 is the one being fed to pigs.”

In reaction, Castro said the rice to be sold to the public was of good quality, the same quality as the rice presently being sold at P33 per kilogram.

“So let us not belittle our farmers, because this rice will come from our local farmers. When anyone says that this is an animal-grade rice, they are belittling our farmers who sell rice to the NFA, to our government,” she said.

The program is not linked to the recent drop in Marcos’ trust and approval ratings in the latest Ulat ng Bayan survey by Pulse Asia Research, Castro further noted.

“This was already discussed by the DA and the NFA even before those survey ratings came out,” she said.

The selling of P20 per kilogram rice will be piloted in Western, Central, and Eastern Visayas next week.

This program will run until December, but it may be extended until February 2026.

Marcos ordered the DA to formulate plans to continue the project until 2028.