Cebu receives fresh NFA rice stocks as part of P20/kilo

MORE than 55,000 bags of well-milled rice that arrived in Cebu are of top quality and fit for human consumption under the P20-per-kilo rice program, National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Larry Lacson assured on Friday, May 23, 2025.

Of the total, 35,000 bags were shipped from Occidental Mindoro and another 20,000 from Iloilo. All are stored at the NFA 7 warehouse at Pier 6, Cebu City.

These new stocks add to the 13,000 bags that arrived earlier in Cebu from Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula and Northern Mindanao. 

Lacson led the inspection of the rice quality, which will be retailed to various local government units (LGUs) in Cebu Province under the subsidized rice program. 

Lacson observed that both regular stocks (zero to three months) and aging stocks (three months from milling) are of top quality.

He explained that all NFA well-milled rice contains 25 percent broken grains and no foul odor. Aging stocks, he said, are typically sold at P29 per kilo through Kadiwa Centers or supplied to institutional government agencies, including jail facilities.

“When we buy from farmers, we don’t pick varieties or good quality; we buy everything,” Lacson said in a mix of Tagalog and English. 

Lacson said they make sure that the rice contains no insects.  

The NFA regularly fumigates its warehouses — a process that takes at least seven days — to control insects.

On Friday afternoon, 130 bags of rice from the NFA 7 warehouse in Banilad, Cebu City, were loaded onto trucks for delivery to the town of Carmen in the north.

Other municipalities, including San Fernando, Pinamungahan, Medellin, Tabogon and Talisay City, also received their allocations. These are regular stocks intended for the subsidized rice program.

Initial release 

The NFA 7 has released a total of 10,795 bags for distribution across Cebu Province as part of an initial order. About 40 municipalities have begun selling subsidized rice.

Lacson said the shipments are part of the 600,000 bags ordered by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia under the “Benteng Bigas, Meron Na!” initiative. The transfer is expected to be completed by June.

On May 1, Agriculture Secretary Francis Tiu Laurel launched the sale of subsidized rice at the Cebu Provincial Capitol. 

Governor Garcia announced that NFA rice would be sold under the Sugbo Merkadong Barato program in towns and component cities.

Lacson assured that the program’s sustainability is secure with the upcoming harvests, which will ensure supply until 2028. 

“Currently, our stocks across the Philippines are at 419,000 metric tons, good for 10.8 days. These are the highest buffer stocks since 2020 — more than 8.3 million tons of rice,” Lacson said in a mix of Tagalog and English. 

Aside from the subsidy program, the NFA is also supplying rice to provincial and city jails and Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) family food packs. 

Lacson acknowledged logistical challenges but said the Department of Agriculture’s Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) has acquired new trucks to deliver rice to Kadiwa Centers. LGUs may also pick up their allocations.

He added that the agency has coordinated with LGUs to secure storage for unsold rice. 

DSWD food packs

The Visayas pilot implementation of the P20 per kilo program, Lacson said, will not affect DSWD food packs, which remain a government priority and can be withdrawn at any time.

The National Government is preparing for the program’s nationwide rollout. The pilot aims to identify logistical and implementation challenges.

Lacson said the Marcos administration plans to eventually offer subsidized rice to all Filipinos, not just selected beneficiaries.

He said Laurel’s courtesy resignation as agriculture secretary will not impact the program, as it is a presidential initiative. Earlier this week, Marcos called for the courtesy resignation of all Cabinet secretaries as a bold move to recalibrate his administration following the results of the recent midterm elections. This step is intended to give him the space to assess each department’s performance and decide who will continue to serve based on alignment with his administration’s recalibrated priorities. 

To subsidize the cost, Laurel said the National Government and LGUs will split the difference between the market and selling price. For example, if the market price is P33 per kilo, the P13 difference will be covered equally: P6.50 each by FTI and the LGU. / EHP