Cebu City Council defers deal for cheap rice program anew

Local

FOR the second week in a row, the rollout of P20-per-kilo rice in Cebu City has been put on hold after the City Council again deferred action on the agreement required to push the program forward.

During the council’s regular session on Tuesday, August 19, Minority Floor Leader Sisinio Andales questioned the completeness and clarity of the draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the city and Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), a government-owned corporation under the Department of Agriculture.

“Now, I have a copy of this memorandum of agreement between Food Terminal Incorporated and the City of Cebu. It attaches four documents, Annex A, Annex B, Annex C, and Annex D. But I cannot find any of the annexes in the MOA, Mr. Chair,” Andales said.

He went on to point out other issues, including vague provisions on the quality and weight of rice orders and the unclear timeline for when the city would receive rice supplies.

“Otherwise, we just defer this approval of this memorandum unless all the documents are completed,” Andales told his colleagues.

Instead of pushing for approval, proponent Councilor Jun Alcover Jr. moved to schedule an executive session on August 26, calling on FTI officials and the City Legal Office to attend and respond to the council’s queries.

The decision means Cebu City residents eager for cheaper rice will have to wait at least another week, despite repeated pronouncements that the program would already be available this August.

The MOA seeks to formalize the city’s participation in the national government’s Kadiwa ng Pangulo and P20 Rice Initiative.

Under the arrangement, FTI will supply well-milled National Food Authority (NFA) rice that it buys at P33 per kilo, which will then be sold in Cebu City at the subsidized price of P20 per kilo.

The P13-per-kilo subsidy will be split evenly between the national government and the Cebu City government. Beneficiaries will include indigent families, senior citizens, solo parents, persons with disabilities, disaster-hit households, and indigenous peoples.

Aside from the P20 rice, FTI has also proposed selling stocks under its FTI-25 and Rice for All-25 schemes at P35 per kilo. FTI will manage procurement and delivery, while the city will oversee beneficiary identification and distribution.

It was the second time that the council has set aside the measure.

The first deferment came on August 12, when Andales and Councilor Francis Esparis flagged gaps in the MOA and requested further documentation, including a board resolution from FTI authorizing its president to sign on behalf of the corporation.

The City Legal Office earlier issued an opinion stating that no legal impediments stand in the way of the MOA, but procurement laws must still be complied with.

The P20-per-kilo rice program was launched nationally in May 2025, fulfilling a key campaign pledge of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Cebu Province, under then-Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, became the first LGU to implement it in 2023, though supply constraints disrupted its sustainability.(TGP)