CEBU CITY, Cebu — In fulfillment of a campaign promise before the 2022 presidential elections, it took almost three years to finally come into fruition the lowering of the price of rice in the market at ₱20 per kilo—starting this week but only in the Visayas first.

This was once met with skepticism as Filipinos have always heard hundreds of promises during election campaigns and rallies and only to be heartbroken because most of those who issued them either suddenly suffered from amnesia or else lost in the election so they obviously forget.

However, this time it appears to be true as President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. is adamant in moving ahead with the pilot rollout of his '₱20 per kilo' rice program beginning May 1 by making subsidized rice available through local government units (LGUs).

The chief executive met with 12 governors from Regions VI (Western Visayas), VII (Central Visayas) and VIII (Eastern Visayas) in Cebu City to finalize the implementation of his vaunted '₱20 Program' that will allow families to buy rice at ₱20 per kilo through their LGUs.

The President was joined in the 'closed-door' meeting by agriculture secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. and presidential special assistant Antonio Lagdameo Jr.

"The President has given the directive for this program, which will run initially until December and is planned to be sustained until 2028," Tiu Laurel said as he announced the start of the project's pilot implementation which will begin in Western, Central and Eastern Visayas.

The agri chief explained that the Department of Agriculture (DA) had selected the said regions because they have available rice stocks and a high demand for food support.

The President was welcomed by Cebu givernor Gwendolyn 'Gwen' Garcia along with fellow governors JC Rahman Nava of Guimaras, Jose Enrique Miraflores of Aklan, Edwin Ongchuan of Northern Samar and Jericho Petilla of Leyte.

Other governors also include Manuel Sagarbarria of Negros Oriental, Jake Vincent Villa of Siquijor, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, Damian Mercado of Southern Leyte, Gerard Roger Espina of Biliran and Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo.

According to Tiu Laurel, each beneficiary family will be allowed to buy up to 10 kilograms of rice per week, or 40 kilograms per month, at the subsidized price.
Asked about how the price had been pushed lower, he explained that the national government and LGUs will share the cost to bridge the ₱13 price gap from the current market price of about ₱33 per kilo.
"The DA team has been working day and night on how to bring this to reality. Many steps were needed for this to happen," he cited in English and Filipino.

Moreover, the agricultural secretary also clarified that the agriculture department needs to clear out overflowing warehouses to make space for future supply.

"The DA's warehouses are overflowing with rice and palay (unmilled rice). Our stocks used to be only 300,000 tons. Now it's 358,000 tons because of the harvest season. So we really have stocks of palay and rice, the rice equivalent. So we really have to move out and dispose of the stocks. That's also the other factor," he said.

Tiu Laurel asserted that the government could only move forward with the program now because global rice and fuel prices have declined.

"The President wants this to continue until 2028. This program was originally scheduled only until December, maybe extendable to February, but now he wants the DA to formulate a plan that makes this sustainable," he added.

"For now, we're launching it here because there are more people in those regions. But of course, the eventual intention of this program is once we sort out all the issues logistically to really see how to operate it, launch it and manage it, that it will eventually be nationwide," he said.