RICE PROGRAM.

Officials of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) agree to include minimum wage earners in the pilot run of the P20 rice program—an expansion that follows President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to sustain and scale the program through 2028. Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, who met with Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. at the DA offices in Quezon City, expressed his gratitude to his fellow Cabinet member for supporting his proposal for the inclusion of minimum wage earners in the subsidized rice program.