BACOLOD City – The city government here has allocated P13.2 million for the purchase of rice to be sold at P20 per kilogram.
Atty. Marty Go, secretary-to-the-mayor, said the city government is now preparing the purchase order (PO) as well as the application for exemption at the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
In his letter to Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez dated April 25, 2025, Engr. Jose Albert Barrogo, officer-in-charge regional executive director of the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Negros Island Region, said the rice program will alleviate the financial burden of rice on consumers especially the low-income earners.
The DA, as the lead agency in ensuring food security, launched the P20 per kilo rice program to provide high-quality rice at a subsidized rate of P20 per kilo.
Barrogo said the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), as the implementing arm of the DA for the sale of rice to the local government units (LGUs), will procure rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) at a price of P33 per kilo and sell the same to the LGUs at a subsidized rate of P26.50 per kilo.
Consequently, the LGUs will resell the rice to their respective constituents at a subsidized rate of P20 per kilo. The subsidy of at least P13 per kilo will be equally shouldered by the FTI and the LGU concerned.
Earlier, the city government allocated the said amount for the procurement of 8,000 bags of rice at the National Food Authority (NFA) at a price of P33 per kilo, intended for the city’s Kadiwa Program.
But, because of the DA’s rice project being offered to the city, the earlier plan will not push through since its PO is still on process and the price of rice is higher compared to the P20 per kilo rice program./PN
