Officials of Agriculture Department Prove the Quality of P20 per Kilo Rice
AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT – The DA said they will use P5 billion funds for the subsidy of the program that will sell rice for P20 per kilo.
DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. recently announced that there will be a rice sale in Visayas due to the excess in the stocks of NFA rice in the region. According to the Agriculture Secretary, rice will be sold at P20 per kilo. However, it was met with different reactions from the people.
According to Vice Pres. Sara Duterte, the P20 per kilo rice sale is allegedly another “budol” from the government. She stressed her doubts on the intention of the government citing that Luzon and Mindanao also needs affordable rice.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte claimed that the people behind the rice sale might be having a problem with their votes in Visayas. According to her, a meeting at the capitol in Cebu allegedly gathered some governors in the region. Malacañang reacted to the claims of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte calling on her to avoid crab mentality over the rice program.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte also commented that the P20 per kilo rice must be fit for human consumption. The agriculture department said they’re “deeply hurt” by the remarks of the Vice President. According to DA Sec. Laurel, they in the department allegedly cook and eat NFA rice daily.
Recently, the Department of Agriculture held a press conference where the officials ate the NFA rice that will be sold at P20 per kilo to assure the public of its quality. Based on a post of ABS-CBN News on Facebook, the agriculture department also said that P5 billion funds will be used for the subsidy of the P20 per kilo rice program.
According to DA, the original price of the rice that will be sold at P20 per kilo is P33 per kilo. Based on the post, the department said that the loss will be shouldered by the government and it will be shared by the national government and the local government units.
Previously, Malacañang reiterated that there is no politics involved in the P20 per kilo rice program.