• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Provincial government Administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz yesterday said that the selling of rice P20 per kilo to the prioritized sectors in Negros Occidental, will start after the May 12 elections.
The Commission on Elections has imposed a 10-day ban on the distribution of all forms of assistance, which includes the sale of rice at P20 per kilo by local government units, which was supposed to take effect on May 2 and end on May 12, which is the election day.
Diaz disclosed that the provincial government has enough funds to implement the program of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
He, however, said there are no clear guidelines issued yet by the Department of Agriculture on how it will be implemented by local governments.
He recalled that the selling of rice at a cheaper price has long been implemented by the rice irrigators association in Negros Occidental, which is sold at the Food Terminal Market in Bacolod City.
Diaz said that the National Food Authority (NFA) has allotted 5,800 sacks of rice worth P7 million for the Food Security Emergency Program under the Department of Agriculture.
Under the program, indigent families are eligible to buy the P20-per-kilo rice at a maximum of 40 kilos a month.
To make the P20-per-kilo rice possible, P6.50 will be subsidized by the state-owned Food Terminal Inc., while another P6.50 will be shouldered by local governments, according to the Department of Agriculture.*
