There’s fake news about P20-per-kilo rice in Visayas, says Palace

RICE (Composite image from Inquirer files / stock photos)

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos were warned on Friday against fake news peddlers trying to sabotage the administration’s program, which seeks to sell rice at P20 per kilo.

At a Palace press briefing, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro presented a vlog claiming that the rice sold at P20 per kilo is not rice, but feeds fit for animals.

Castro’s action comes days after Vice President Sara Duterte said she thought the president was just giving  “false hopes” to the people since rice sold that cheap may not be “fit for human consumption but only for animals.”

Duterte made the remark in a press conference in Negros Occidental.

“Mag ingat po ang mga Pilipino dahil ang ibebenta po na bigas ay yung sa mga authorized outlets,” said Castro.

(Filipinos should be careful because the rice to be sold will be from authorized outlets.)

“Mag ingat po tayo sa fake news peddlers — sinisira ang proyekto; sinisira ang pangulo; sinisira ang hope o ang pag asa ng bawat Pilipino,” she noted.

(Let’s be careful of fake news peddlers — they are destroying the project; destroying the president; destroying the hope of every Filipino.)

She further said the rice to be sold at P20 per kilo has yet to be released.

“Hindi pa man nakikita [o] wala pang nakikitang bigas na ibebenta, pinipintasan na pang hayop,” Castro told reporters.

(Even though there is no rice to sell yet, it is already being criticized as suitable only for animals.)

On Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. announced that rice will be sold at P20 per kilo in the Visayas.

He added that he was instructed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to implement this program until 2028.