The Department of Agriculture (DA) has directed the National Food Authority (NFA) to send stocks to Visayas for the P20-per-kilo rice program. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JORDEENE LAGARE
MANILA, Philippines — Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has directed the National Food Authority (NFA) to start transferring rice stocks to the Visayas in preparation for the rollout of the P20-per-kilo rice program.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) also said on Sunday it has already secured clearance from the Commission on Elections to roll out the program, despite the upcoming national and local elections.
READ: DA will start selling rice at P20 per kilo – Tiu Laurel
Laurel, as quoted in a press release, said, “It will take several weeks to transfer tens even hundreds of thousands of 50-kilo bags rice from NFA warehouses, particularly from Mindoro, to various parts of the Visayas.”
The rice that will be sold under this program will come from the record-high 378,157 metric tons in buffer stocks—equivalent to 7.56 million bags of rice.
The NFA warehouses in Iloilo alone currently hold 862,409 sacks of rice, but according to NFA Administrator Larry Lacson, this needs to be increased to support areas with limited rice production, such as Cebu, Negros Island, Samar, and Leyte.
On April 23, Tiu Laurel announced that P20-per-kilo rice would be sold in the Visayas. This initiative will be piloted in Regions 6, 7, and 8.
It is set to last until December 2025, with a possible extension until February 2026. However, Tiu Laurel said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. instructed the possible implementation of the program until 2028.
READ: Palace on Sara Duterte’s reply to P20-per-kg rice: ‘Don’t be a termite’
This program garnered a negative reaction from Vice President Sara Duterte, who called it another attempt to fool Filipinos.
But this was refuted by Palace Press Officer Claire Castro, who told Duterte in a briefing on April 24 not to let “crab mentality” prevail and to support the program and the country’s leaders instead.