Cebu begins selling P20 rice on Monday

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

CEBU CITY — Local government units in Cebu will begin selling rice at P20 per kilo on Monday, April 28, ahead of the Visayas-wide rollout of the national rice subsidy program on May 1.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia announced the early implementation during a meeting with mayors on Friday. The meeting was streamed live via Sugbo News, the Capitol's official media arm.

Garcia said over 20,000 bags of rice are stored and ready for distribution, with allocations based on the number of qualified beneficiaries per local government unit (LGU).

The initiative, led by the Department of Agriculture (DA), fulfills President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s campaign promise to lower rice prices and will be carried out in Cebu through Sugbo Merkadong Barato (SMB) outlets.

SMB is already an existing network previously used by the capitol to distribute low-cost goods.

An estimated 300,000 initial beneficiaries in Cebu will include barangay health and daycare workers, barangay tanod (security officer), public school teachers, government employees, farmers and fisherfolk.

Each beneficiary is entitled to 10 kilograms of rice weekly. The province estimates needing 60,000 sacks of rice weekly or 240,000 sacks monthly to meet the demand. Each sack contains 50 kilograms.

For the first round, beneficiaries may pay in cash, but starting next week, they will be able to use QR-coded cards for transactions.

New cards will be distributed in the coming days to accommodate more recipients.

Garcia said the provincial government will shoulder the cost difference between the current market price and the P20 per kilo rate until the end of 2025.

Starting next year, the national government is expected to fully subsidize the program.

"Wala man gud ni sa budget karon. Muhangyo ko sa mga gobernador karon, pero next year fully subsidized na ni sa national government aron hangtod na ni 2028. Dili ni para karon lang tungod kay padung ang election (This really isn't in the budget right now. I'm appealing to the governors for now, but next year this will be fully subsidized by the national government so it can continue until 2028. This isn't just for now because the elections are coming)," she said.

The program's concept was inspired by Cebu's SMB initiative, which began in November 2023 but was hampered by unreliable supply from the National Food Authority.

Following Garcia's discussion with Marcos over lunch on April 11, the President directed the DA to roll out a national version of the program, starting in the Visayas.

DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. officially launched the national version during a press conference at the capitol on April 23, after a closed-door meeting between Marcos and 12 governors from the Visayas regions.

Under the program, rice procured at P33 per kilo will be sold at P20, with the DA and LGUs sharing the P13-per-kilo subsidy.

Tiu Laurel said the pilot implementation in the Visayas was chosen due to both high demand and available supply, particularly in areas like Iloilo.

Tiu Laurel explained that the government initially considered several distribution models before approving the current setup, which allows each beneficiary to purchase up to 10 kilograms of rice per week or 40 kilograms per month.

He also noted that the program would help clear out "overflowing" stocks from DA warehouses to make way for new harvests.

The secretary said the initiative became feasible now due to declining global rice and fuel prices.

Originally set as a short-term measure until December 2025, the program is now designed to run until 2028, as directed by the President.

Governors across the Visayas expressed support for the program during the April 23 meeting. Siquijor Gov. Jake Vincent Villa called it a necessary and timely intervention to help curb inflation, while Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla confirmed plans for nationwide expansion, with full national government funding beginning next year.

Garcia underscored that what started as a localized effort in Cebu will now benefit families across the country.

The P20-per-kilo rice promise was a centerpiece of Marcos' 2022 presidential campaign, which met criticism from the public due to non-realization of the promise three years into his term.