KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — President Marcos on Tuesday pledged to sustain his administration’s affordable rice program until the end of his term as he directly addressed for the first time his naysayers who have been saying the P20 per kilo rice initiative will not be sustainable in the long run.

“There are those who are saying it’s just for show; it’s just a cosmetic solution. Well, they are fair to have that opinion that it’s unsustainable. It’s really what people are saying,” Marcos said in a press briefing after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit here.

“Watch me sustain it, and then we will talk in May of 2028,” he added. The sale of rice at P20 per kilo was one of his campaign promises in 2022.

In the first episode of his BBM Podcast last week, the President discussed the pilot run of the program spearheaded by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the Visayas region. The test run, which will last until December, will gradually be expanded to cover parts of Luzon and Mindanao.

Marcos said he was unable to immediately fulfill his campaign promise because the conditions were not right then, citing the need to first run after rice hoarders and smugglers, followed by the implementation of reforms to boost production.

“We could not do it before because the system cannot yet do it. The price of rice was also different then,” he said, citing the government’s efforts to enter into deals with other countries on rice importation.

“Whatever happens down the road, the fact remains that we are able to do it now. We can now easily do this P20 rice,” he added.

The DA initially kicked off the sale of the lower-priced rice on May 1 but had to temporarily halt it until May 12 due to the total ban on public spending before the midterm elections.

Critics of the President, including Vice President Sara Duterte, called the program unsustainable, with Duterte describing it as a “false promise.”

Two weeks ago, the DA restarted its pilot run in the Visayas region, with the second phase to be launched in Mindanao by July.

Under the Kadiwa ng Pangulo program, vulnerable sectors like the poor, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and solo parents may buy rice at P20 per kilo. This rice is subsidized by the government through Food Terminal Inc.

The DA earlier said it is eyeing to sustain this initiative until the President steps down in June 2028, potentially benefiting up to 15 million households or around 60 million Filipinos.

The DA and the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) are also finalizing the mechanism for expanding the program to include about 120,000 minimum wage earners nationwide.

More beneficiaries

In a briefing on Wednesday, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the official list of beneficiaries came from Dole. Their purchase limit will be 10 kilos a month.

“For minimum wage earners, since they earn minimum salary, this will help them augment their budget,” he told reporters.

Marcos, in the press briefing after the Asean Summit, meanwhile, warned that the United States’ higher tariffs on its trading partners may lead to a “shrinkage” in economic activity around the world.

The US’ new tariff schedule, which was paused for 90 days until July 9, was extensively and thoroughly discussed during the summit, the President told Malacañang reporters before flying back to Manila.

“It has a global effect, and it is not going to be a good one. There will be, I believe, a shrinkage in economic activity. I hope not. I hope I’m wrong,” Marcos added.

He said that leaders of Asean member states agreed they have to “depend more on each other” moving forward.

He pointed out that the regional bloc’s economies are “vibrant,” and they can come together to discuss developments if a member country is having difficulty in its economy, with the tariffs slapped on its exports to the US.

“If we cannot sell to these markets anymore, then let’s sell to each other’s markets. It seems that the best, most solid way forward is to be a reliable partner for each other in Asean,” he said. —with a report from Jordeene B. Lagare

Published Date: May 29, 2025