News Details

Bacolod City set to resume ?20/kg rice program this September

NPO

•

September 1, 2025

BACOLOD CITY – The city government is preparing to resume the second tranche of the “Benteng Bigas Meron Na!” program, which offers rice at ₱20 per kilo to qualified residents, before the end of September.

Secretary to the Mayor Marty Go said in a press briefing on Monday that the procurement process for additional rice stocks is underway.

“We have an existing memorandum of agreement with the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI). We are just waiting for the purchase request to be finalized, and we hope to transmit it to FTI this week. Our goal is to expedite the resumption of the program within the month,” he said.

Under the agreement, the city government sources rice from the National Food Authority through FTI, the Department of Agriculture’s marketing arm.

During the initial rollout in June, Bacolod purchased 5,880 sacks of rice worth ₱7.971 million. For the second tranche, Go said about 3,000 sacks are expected to be procured using the remaining funds.

The “Benteng Bigas Meron Na!” program allows each qualified household to buy up to 10 kilos of rice per week, or a maximum of 40 kilos per month, at ₱20 per kilo. Beneficiaries include senior citizens, solo parents, persons with disabilities, indigent families, minimum wage earners, rice farmers, and fisherfolk.

Starting September 16, the program will also be expanded to benefit the transport sector in five pilot areas nationwide.

— NPO News Team | PNA-PR