President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. was in Cebu City on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 for the planned roll-out of the P20-per-kilogram rice set to pilot in the Visayas regions.

According to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., the President with 12 provincial governors in the Visayas regions met at the Cebu Provincial Capitol for the scheduled implementation of the program. 

Laurel said that the roll-out would fulfill the campaign vow of the Marcos administration to have P20 rice available to indigent Filipinos nationwide.

Laurel added that they work closely with select local government units (LGUs) in the Visayas: the Provinces of Cebu, Leyte, and Siquijor for the implementation.

The select LGUs will provide their counterpart for the purchase of rice from Food Terminal, Inc. (FTI) under the Department of Agriculture to sustain the program.

The program will run until December 2025, and will possibly be extended until February 2026.

The program will be launched “next week,” or by the last week of April 2025.

The Cebu Provincial Government supported the President's campaign promise via “Sugbo Merkadong Barato” (SMB) program that was launched in November 2023. 

According to a report of Sugbo News, official news portal of Cebu Province, Capitol funded the program which delegated to the individual municipalities and component cities the task of selling the rice at only P25 per kilo to indigent constituents. 

However, the program took a halt because of limited rice supply from the National Food Authority. There is also a guideline that only individuals found in the list of the Department of Social Welfare and Development can avail of the program.

The President, earlier reported to announce personally the program, did not face members of the Cebu media though. No reason was given.