ANTIQUE — A P97-million rice subsidy funded by the national government will be distributed to 37,975 poor and near-poor families in Antique beginning September, according to the Office of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer (OPSWDO).
Gov. Paolo Javier said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. entrusted the Provincial Government of Antique with overseeing the implementation of the program to ensure that the assistance reaches its intended beneficiaries.
“These programs are part of the President’s efforts to make sure that families have access to food, especially rice. We will make sure that the assistance is properly distributed and reaches the families who need it,” Javier said.
Under the Rice Subsidy Program, each beneficiary family will receive a total of 30 kilograms of rice in three batches.
The first 10 kilograms are targeted for distribution in September, another 10 kilograms in November, and the final 10 kilograms by January 2027.
The beneficiaries were identified based on the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Meanwhile, the Office of the President has allocated an additional P40 million in rice assistance for 4,921 families affected by Typhoon Tino and P5 million for 191 families affected by Typhoon Basyang.
The assistance under the Typhoon Rice Assistance Program will also be distributed through monthly releases, although the final distribution dates have yet to be finalized.
Combined, the three rice assistance programs have a total allocation of P142 million for beneficiaries in Antique.
The OPSWDO is coordinating with the province’s 18 Local Social Welfare and Development Offices (LSWDOs) to finalize the master list of beneficiaries and prevent duplication between the rice subsidy programs.
The provincial government said the coordination is intended to ensure that the assistance reaches qualified families and that no beneficiary household receives duplicate assistance under the programs./PN
