DA orders rice stocks moved to Visayas for P20/kilo program

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has directed the National Food Authority to begin transferring rice stocks to the Visayas in preparation for the launch of the P20-per-kilo rice program, following the Commission on Elections approval to roll out the initiative.

The Department of Agriculture said the rice will come from the NFA’s buffer stocks, which reached a five-year high of 7.17 million 50-kilogram bags of milled rice. As of the latest data, the inventory has risen further to 7.56 million bags—enough to feed the country for an estimated 10 days.

“It will take several weeks to transfer tens, even hundreds of thousands of 50-kilo bags from NFA warehouses, particularly from Mindoro, to various parts of the Visayas," Tiu Laurel said in a statement released Sunday.

Although NFA warehouses in Iloilo currently hold around 862,409 sacks of rice, NFA Administrator Larry Lacson emphasized the need to transport additional stocks from Mindoro to support areas with limited rice production, such as Cebu, Negros Island, Samar, and Leyte.

“The additional stocks for the Visayas will mainly come from Mindoro Island, where the NFA inventory exceeds 830,000 bags of rice,” Lacson said, noting that transferring 40,000 sacks to Cebu alone could take up to a month.

This move comes after Comelec exempted the DA's P20-per-kilo rice project from the election spending ban ahead of the May 12 polls.

The program is part of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s campaign promise to lower the price of rice to P20 per kilogram.

However, the initiative has faced criticism, notably from Vice President Sara Duterte, who accused the government of misleading the public and raised concerns that the rice might be of such poor quality that it could be used as animal feed.

The DA has assured the public it is committed to delivering “quality rice” through the program. 

While the rollout will initially focus on the Visayas, President Marcos has expressed the goal of expanding the program nationwide over time.

Meanwhile, Malacañang on Friday warned the public against misinformation after a viral video allegedly showed poor-quality rice being sold at P20 per kilo, even though the program has not yet officially launched. — DVM, GMA Integrated News