President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said he is eyeing to give rice allowance to all government workers amid the increasing prices of commodities in the market.
In an exclusive interview with actress Toni Gonzaga, Marcos, who also heads the Department of Agriculture, was asked about his plans for the agriculture sector.
“What was going to happen is magkakaroon ng demand kasi bibili ng marami ‘yung gobyerno eh and then we will talk to other corporations, marami naman sa malalaking korporasyon, mayroon na silang rice allowance eh. So we will institutionalize it. At the very least, mayroon tayong ganon,” Marcos said.
“We should not be at the subsistence level. We should not be spending 60, 70, 80% of their income on food. That’s far far far too much. They have nothing left for anything else, they cannot send their children to school. They cannot pay for the electricity, for water, although these things that they need to pay for,” he added.
Marcos said his administration will also focus on organizing the value chain system of agricultural production over time.
When asked about lowering the price of rice to P20 per kilo, Marcos said that “it will take time” and that the National Food Authority has to get back its former function.
However, Marcos said that it is not impossible to happen under his administration,
“Pag mabuo natin ‘yung value chain and we make savings at every step, and then the world market will slowly be better, we might just make it to P20 but It’s a long road there. It’s not easy,” the President said.
“Anything is possible. You just have to work very hard and be clever about it and come up with new ideas and be creative about what are the things you are able to do,” he continued.
According to Marcos, those plans are part of his goal to sustain and boost the economy amid the pandemic. —Report from Mark Fetalco/KC – gb
