House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Tuesday bared that Congress earmarked funds under the P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget to implement a revolutionary program of the Marcos administration that would drive down the price of good quality rice by almost half for seven million families or 28 million Filipinos under challenging situations through monthly rice discount vouchers.
“This subsidy program is our strong response to President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.’s call to the House of Representatives to come up with means to bring down the price of rice for disadvantaged Filipino families in difficult situations. It will benefit seven million families across legislative districts in the country, or roughly 28 million people,” Speaker Romualdez, the leader of the 300-plus strong House of Representatives, said on the new program, which is eyeing to allow each family to buy 25 kilograms of affordable and good quality rice monthly.
“This is a recalibration of our Cash and Rice Distribution (CARD) Program, and we made it more sustainable by transforming it into a rice discount voucher program so that more families can enjoy buying affordable rice,” he added.
Initially dubbed Bagong Pilipinas Community Assistance and Rice Discount (CARD), the new program was formulated in partnership with Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Sec. Rex Gatchalian and the local government units (LGUs).
It will be operationalized through the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) under next year’s national budget.
The DSWD is mandated to formulate further rules and regulations regarding the program.
Initiated by Speaker Romualdez, the House of Representatives and the Senate have agreed to fund the program during the bicameral committee conference hearings on the 2024 national budget as a way to give life to President Marcos’ aspirations of bringing down the price of rice.
The additional AICS funds will cover the necessary budget allocations for the rice discount vouchers.
Speaker Romualdez said the program seeks to alleviate the burden on low-income families by providing discount vouchers directly to many families; the program aims to make a measurable and immediate impact on their financial well-being while ensuring access to an essential food source.
He explained that the program would utilize the advantages of technology for efficient voucher distribution, tracking, and validation and to safeguard from misuse.
Speaker Romualdez said that the Bagong Pilipinas CARD will serve as a discount voucher for beneficiaries to purchase rice at a discounted rate.
“This program is to show all Filipinos that Congress and the administration of President Marcos Jr. are doing everything to bring down the price of rice for a more significant number of Filipino families. Ang kapakanan ng pamilyang Pilipino ang aming nasa isipan sa proyektong ito,” Speaker Romualdez said.
