Featured News

A MEMORANDUM of agreement (MOA) that will allow companies to include minimum wage earners in the government's P20 per kilogram (kg) rice program has been drafted, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Wednesday.

The MOA, once finalized, will see state-owned Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) providing rice to companies that sign up for the Benteng Bigas Meron Na! (BBM Na!) program, which currently only serves Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries, senior citizens, persons with disability and solo parents.

The DA and the Department of Labor (DOLE) last week agreed to expand BBM Na! coverage to minimum wage workers and said that around 120,000 would initially benefit.

DA spokesman Arnel de Mesa said participating companies will have to detail how much rice would be required. FTI will then advise the nearest National Food Authority (NFA) office so that the firms can withdraw their allocations.

Each minimum wage employee will be allowed to purchase up to 10 kilos of rice.

De Mesa said the MOA will prohibit companies from marking up the rice, and the DA will also be monitoring sales to ensure that the rice actually goes to minimum wage earners.

Companies will have to forward sale proceeds to the FTI, which will forward these to the NFA.

Aside from the DOLE, the Department of Social Welfare and Development has also partnered with the DA regarding the P20/kg rice initiative.

On Tuesday, Social Welfare Secretary Rexlon Gatchalian said that his department had begun integrating the P20/kg rice initiative into its Food Stamp Program.

According to the DA, BBM Na! has so far served a total of 9,487 beneficiaries in its first 11 days of operation from May 13 to May 23.

Amid concerns that NFA stocks are not enough to sustain the program, de Mesa said that the agency now had some 8 million bags of rice that are enough to extend BBM Na! to early next year.

Next year, the DA is requesting P18 billion in funds to subsidize the P20/kilo program, up from P5 billion this year.

Source : msn