The Department of Agriculture begun a trial run of the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s Program 29 in Manila and Bulacan, which offers rice for P29 per kilo.
According to Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., no less than 10 KADIWA centers participated in the program's first edition. These will be selling rice on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (July 5-7).
These KADIWA centers are the offices of the Bureau of Animal Industry and the National Irrigation Administration in Quezon City, the Bureau of Plant Industry in Manila, Food Terminal Inc. in Taguig, the PhilFIDA in Las Piñas, as well as in Caloocan City and Valenzuela, Marikina's Barangay Fortune and BF City (BFCT), San Jose del Monte in Bulacan.
The program targets vulnerable populations, including senior citizens, solo parents, people with disabilities or PWDs, and beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P's). It seeks to gather data on the supply and demand, logistics for nationwide implementation, and to determine its effectivity.
The secretary appealed that beneficiaries not abuse the program by reselling the rice, as it has been set into motion to extend aid to their target demographics.
“We appeal to beneficiaries not to take advantage of this program by reselling the P29 rice from KADIWA centers. We want to ensure that the largest number of those in the vulnerable sectors will benefit from this program of President Bongbong Marcos,” Laurel said.
