House Speaker Martin Romualdez yesterday said that Congress is prepared to allocate future funding for the Marcos administration’s rice subsidy program to make it sustainable into the coming year and possibly serve as an alternative to direct cash transfers or “ayuda.”
His remarks came even as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) exempted a Department of Agriculture (DA) initiative to sell rice at P20 per kilo to select consumers from the 45-day election spending ban ahead of the May 12 polls.
Romualdez said that while the initiative will be piloted in the Visayas region, the administration is eyeing to expand it nationwide.
“Providing affordable rice directly addresses hunger and ensures that assistance reaches the dining tables of Filipino families. This approach guarantees that government support translates into actual food security for our citizens,” the Speaker said.
Under the program, identified low-income households are issued ID cards allowing them to buy rice from accredited retailers at a subsidized rate—bringing the cost down by up to 50 percent.
The discount is shouldered through a fund supported by local and national agencies, particularly DSWD, while retailers are enlisted and supported to ensure a steady supply of quality rice at lower prices.
“Instead of giving out cash that may not go directly to food, this system ensures the ayuda reaches the dinner table,” Romualdez explained.
He said the lower chamber is prepared to push for sufficient funding in the 2026 national budget to institutionalize this rice subsidy system, in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and local governments.
Earlier, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. confirmed that the program would allow eligible families to purchase up to 10 kilograms of rice per week at the subsidized rate.
The Speaker cited the successful implementation of a rice subsidy program in Camiguin province, saying this could serve as the model for scaling it up nationwide.
“It’s a blueprint worth replicating nationwide,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Comelec, through Memorandum No. 25-07984, DA’s granted the request to exclude their P5-billion funding for the sale of P20 per kilo of rice from the spending ban for the May elections.
Poll chief George Erwin Garcia pointed out that the Comelec included additional guidelines for the exclusion, including the securing by local government units (LGUs) of separate certificates of exemption if they resell rice products at a lower price.
“The LGUs availing of the P20 per kilo rice should themselves apply for the Comelec exemption. They [LGUs] are not automatically exempted just because the Comelec already granted exemptions to the DA and the NFA [National Food Authority],” he said in Filipino.
As this developed, Romualdez welcomed the National Economic and Development Authority’s projection that the Philippines is poised to become an upper middle-income country by 2026.
To help achieve this goal, he underscored the significant role of the House of Representatives in advancing legislation aligned with the Marcos administration’s vision of inclusive and sustainable economic development.
“As we rise toward upper-middle income status, we must also rise to the challenge of lifting every Filipino out of poverty. It is not enough to lift the economy—we have to raise the lives of everyone,” he said.