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Helen Flores - The Philippine Star
June 4, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The government has officially rolled out its P20-per-kilo rice initiative under the Walang Gutom Program to make affordable food more accessible to vulnerable sectors, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian announced yesterday.?
At a Palace press briefing, Gatchalian said the Department of Agriculture (DA) will supply the low-cost rice to accredited retailers where program beneficiaries can redeem their monthly food credits.
“They will be provided with P20 rice so they can buy more using their food credits,” Gatchalian said.?The Walang Gutom Program, launched in July 2023, aims to end hunger among 750,000 food-poor families by 2027.
Under the program, qualified households receive P3,000 worth of food credits every month through an electronic benefit transfer card. These credits can be used to buy selected food items from authorized sellers.
According to Gatchalian, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has already submitted to the DA a list of around 1,000 accredited retailers, including Kadiwa outlets and micro, small and medium enterprises.
He also cited findings from a Social Weather Stations survey, which showed that hunger incidence among program beneficiaries dropped by 4.1 percentage points – from 48.7 percent in October 2024 to 44.6 percent in December 2024 – indicating the program’s growing impact.
More rice
Meanwhile, the DA has approved the DSWD’s request to allocate an additional 490,000 sacks of rice to support its broader feeding and disaster response initiatives.
The rice, which will be distributed between June and December 2025, is expected to sustain the operations of the DSWD’s repacking hubs in Pasay and Cebu.
“We require 35,000 sacks of rice monthly to keep our repacking hubs in Pasay and Cebu operational,” Gatchalian said. “We are grateful that the DA, through the National Food Authority (NFA), has committed to providing this consistent supply for the next several months.”
The DSWD regularly procures rice from the NFA for its social welfare and emergency relief programs.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the arrangement benefits both agencies. It allows the DA to offload stocks from overcrowded warehouses while giving the agency space to purchase more palay from local farmers at competitive prices.
The NFA currently holds over eight million sacks of rice, straining storage capacity.
Redirecting part of these stocks to the DSWD and the P20 rice initiative supports procurement targets, helps local farmers and improves food affordability.
The rice distribution agreement is expected to boost the government’s capacity to respond to emergencies and reduce food insecurity among vulnerable populations.
‘Missed chance’
While the integration of the P20-per-kilo rice into the Walang Gutom Program has been touted as a major step toward food affordability, critics have questioned the timing and sincerity behind the move, especially in the wake of political fallout from the midterm elections.
Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte cast doubt on President Marcos’ sincerity in launching the P20-per-kilo rice program, claiming it could have been implemented much earlier if it were truly a priority.
“If you are sincere, you could have done it on day one of your administration,” Duterte said during a brief interview in The Hague, Netherlands.
The comment comes after the administration’s Alyansa senatorial slate suffered a poor performance in the recently concluded midterm elections. Marcos himself admitted that the results signaled public dissatisfaction with the government’s services.
The P20-per-kilo rice promise was a major campaign pledge of Marcos during the 2022 presidential elections. Its recent rollout under the Walang Gutom Program has drawn both praise and criticism, with opponents suggesting it is a delayed attempt to win back public trust.
In the same interview, Duterte responded to Marcos’ rejection of calls for resignation, saying, “He is not man enough to do it anyway.”
Some allies of former president Rodrigo Duterte have urged Marcos to step down, claiming that reshuffling the Cabinet will not be enough to address the country’s systemic issues. — Christine Boton, Bella Cariaso
