Palay or unhusked rice (MANILA BULLETIN)



House Speaker Martin Romualdez vowed ahead of the start of the second regular session to help President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. achieve his election campaign promise of lowering the cost of rice to P20 per kilo. "The President wants the price of rice to reach P20 per kilo. We are not yet there, but we will soon approach that and we will make sure that in the House, we take intitiatives as we had done in the previous regular session," Romualdez told House reporters in an interview Saturday afternoon, July 22 in Makati City. "We will focus on the availability of affordable rice and we will try to target that P20 per kilo. That is our aspiration and we will be headed towards that," the Leyte 1st district congressman and House leader said. Marcos will deliver his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) before a joint session of Congress on Monday, July 24. This will mark the start of the second regular session of the 19th Congress following a two-month recess. There are over 500 Kadiwa outlets nationwide that sell basic goods at low prices--including rice at P25 a kilo. The Kadiwa program was launched by the Marcos administration. But Marcos' promise is still a few pesos below that price level, and Romualdez acknowledged this. "We will find ways and means to make sure that local production is up and that there will be fewer if not no more occasions for hoarding or profiteering," Romualdez said. The Speaker further said: "We will manage the importations and hope that will soon be a... [non-]factor in keeping in the prices of rice and it’s supply at very, very reasonable levels. Those are things that we are to focus on." Rice is the staple food of Filipinos.