Gov't to include 120,000 minimum wage earners in P20 per kilo rice program
Minimum wage earners are set to be included in the government's P20 per kilo rice program starting in June.
This comes after the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor and Employment agreed to expand the program to those earning minimum wage.
For this, DOLE identified 120,000 of the said earners who can purchase a maximum of 10 kilos of P20/kilo rice per month.
"For now, participation is limited to workers from companies that have expressed interest in the pilot program," Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.
Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said in an interview on state radio's Bangon, Bayang Mahal that the agencies are still finalizing where the program will be rolled out.
The P20/kilo rice program began to be sold at Kadiwa centers earlier in May. This comes after the DA secured clearance from the Commission on Elections to sell P20-per-kilo subsidized rice, which will come from the buffer stocks of the National Food Authority.
Initially, the project was only available to indigents, senior citizens, solo parents, and persons with disabilities.
'Watch me sustain it'
The P20/kilo rice program was originally intended to run until December, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. directed the DA to expand it nationwide until the end of his term in 2028.
While in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the ASEAN Summit, Marcos told reporters that the project would be sustainable until 2028. During his presidential campaign, he promised to bring down the price of rice to P20 per kilo.
"'Yung mga nagsasabi, 'Hindi, ano lang 'yan, [pampapogi] lang 'yan. [Pang] cosmetic lang 'yan.' Well, they're fair [to have] that opinion," he said, as per ABS-CBN News.
"Watch me sustain it. And then, we'll talk in May of 2028, natuloy ba o hindi. We found a way. We found a way to do it."