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Cecille Suerte Felipe - The Philippine Star
March 1, 2025 | 12:00am
Rice prices range from P42 to P70 per kilo at a public market in Manila.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — Achieving President Marcos’ 2022 campaign promise of selling rice at P20 per kilo remains a major challenge, but proposals to eliminate middlemen and allow the government to buy directly from farmers may help reduce prices, the administration’s senatorial candidates said yesterday.
“Realistically, it seems difficult to achieve P20 per kilo of rice. We can only approximate, so let’s be hopeful, but to accomplish P20 per kilo, I think I have to be pragmatic – it’s quite challenging,” former senator Panfilo Lacson told reporters during a press conference in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
President Marcos’ campaign promise to sell rice at P20 per kilo, made during the 2022 elections, was a central pledge that aimed to address the rising cost of living and improve food security for Filipinos.
Since the promise was made, experts and economists have expressed skepticism about its feasibility.
However, former Senate president Vicente Sotto III remains optimistic, suggesting that cutting out middlemen could play a significant role in lowering prices.
“There is a strong possibility in our proposal for farmers and fishermen to receive 50 percent of the output,” Sotto explained. “While I can’t specify the exact price, the intent of the proposal is definitely to ensure that farmers can earn a decent income.”
Lacson echoed Sotto’s sentiment, emphasizing the need to cut unnecessary intermediaries.
“If there’s a markup of five to 10 percent along the way, some products can pass through as many as six middlemen. Just imagine how many markups that adds. So it’s right that if the government intervenes to ease the situation for farmers, productivity will increase and at the same time, prices will drop because those extra markups will be eliminated,” Lacson said.
Like Lacson and Sotto, former senator Manny Pacquiao also expressed support for the idea, agreeing that removing middlemen could significantly reduce rice prices. — Jose Rodel Clapano
