(MANILA BULLETIN)

“Rice is good, but cash is better." 

House Minority Leader 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan had this to say as he prodded the government to keep on distributing the P600 monthly rice subsidy to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) households in the form cash and not actual rice bags. 

“Rice is good, but cash is better because the money gets delivered straight and fast into the LandBank cash cards of 4Ps households,” Libanan said in a statement on Sunday, April 14. 

Moreover, the veteran solon said that converting the rice grants into tangible rice packs "will likely pose a logistical nightmare, considering that 4Ps households are spread all over the country, including remote barangays". 

Libanan gave these remarks amid suggestions to convert the 4Ps rice grants into actual rice bundles to be supplied by the National Food Authority (NFA). 

The 4Ps--the government's flagship poverty alleviation program--is carried out in 17 regions, 79 provinces, 1,484 municipalities, and 143 cities covering 4.4 million households. 

Given these figures, the minority bloc chief reiterated that moving large volumes of rice for transfer to 4Ps households nationwide “will be extremely difficult, and is bound to create delays, inefficiency and waste.” 

“With cash, 4Ps households will be free to spend the money according to their immediate needs – whether it is food, medicines, or school transportation fare for their children,” Libanan pointed out. 

He said he supports the position of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to continue giving the rice allowance to 4Ps households in cash. 

The DSWD has stood by its previous statement that giving the rice subsidy in cash “is more practical compared to giving actual bags of rice.” 

The rice subsidy is currently being given to 4Ps households on top of their education and health cash grants. Rice is the staple food of Filipinos.