Farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) on Thursday, June 20, dared President Marcos Jr., Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. and other DA officials to cook the aging NFA rice the government plans to sell to the people and consume it in front of the public.

Earlier, the National Food Authority (NFA) Council, chaired by Laurel, approved a plan to sell aging NFA rice buffer stocks at P29 per kilo. 

Dubbed "Bigas 29," the program will provide affordable rice to those who belong to vulnerable sectors — persons with disabilities (PWD), solo parents, senior citizens, and indigenous people (IP).

“Ang tanong namin kay Pangulong Marcos Jr., DA Secretary Tiu-Laurel at iba pang opisyal ng gobyerno, ito bang Bigas 29 ay handa nilang kainin at ipakain sa kanilang mga pamilya? (Our question to President Marcos Jr., DA Secretary Tiu-Laurel, and other government officials is: Are they willing to eat this Bigas 29 themselves and feed it to their families?) ” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos asked.

In an earlier statement, the DA said the rice they will sell in the program may be aging, but it is still "good."

By selling aging rice to vulnerable sectors, Ramos said the government chooses to look down on poor Filipinos rather than resolve the high prices of rice and other food products.

“As a largely agricultural and rice-eating country, Filipinos deserve quality and affordable rice which our farmers can produce sufficiently if only the government grants substantial subsidy and support to the local rice production," Ramos added.

According to KMP, the DA’s Bigas 29 is "nothing more than a pathetic attempt" to lower the country’s high rice prices.

Ramos said that Bigas 29 only highlights the lack of interest of the DA and the current administration in solving the rice price crisis in the country.

"Ganito rin ang ginawa dati sa bukbok rice na gusto ng DA na ibenta at ipakain sa masa. Lumang bigas na nakaimbak sa mga NFA warehouse ang ibebenta sa mahihirap sa P29 kada kilo, samantalang naisiwalat na ang ginawa ng NFA na nagbenta ng P25 kada kilo ng bigas sa mga traders (A similar approach was previously taken with the weevil-infested rice that the DA wanted to sell to the public. The old rice stored in NFA warehouses will be sold to the poor at P29 per kilo, despite revelations that the NFA had sold rice to traders at P25 per kilo),” he said.

The KMP lamented the agriculture department's plan to import 363,697 metric tons (MT) of rice to support its Bigas 29 program.

"Only rice importers and rice traders will benefit from the Bigas 29–a repackaged rice importation program of the Marcos Jr. regime,” the farmers’ group stated.

Per the DA, they target to roll out the Bigas 29 program nationwide in early July.