The government stands to lose at least P10 to P12 billion in the initial rollout of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Benteng Bigas program, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said yesterday.
A limited rollout is currently underway in Regions 6, 7, and 8, targeting about 800,000 families, or 4 million individuals, with a P4.5 billion budget.
The initiative is also being integrated into the Kadiwa program, though for now, rice is sold only to indigent beneficiaries at P29 per kilo.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. acknowledged that the government will incur losses from the program, but emphasized it is not an exercise in futility.
The DA is using the pilot to evaluate logistics and delivery mechanisms before any nationwide expansion.
“Between the P9 billion palay procurement fund and the P4.5 billion subsidy from the President’s contingency fund, we’re looking at around P10 billion in losses,” Tiu Laurel said in a press briefing, adding that while the government expects to recover part of the amount through sales, more precise figures are still being studied.
The Benteng Bigas program, which aims to provide rice at P20 per kilo to lower-income households, is still in its conceptual phase.
Tiou Laurel clarified that for the 2026 to 2028 period, it remains a directive from President Marcos for the DA to study and present viable implementation models.
“We’re set to meet with the President in a week or two to present all the possible concepts, options, and packages on how this could work,” Laurel said.
The DA is considering two primary approaches: selling rice to 15 million households—roughly 51 percent of the population that falls below the middle class—or limiting access to the poorest 1 to 2.9 million families, based on data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“It will really cost a lot. We have to analyze all these things very carefully because we don’t want to disrupt the normal course of trade or the livelihood of private traders,” Laurel admitted
Earlier attempts to offer rice at P33 failed to gain traction due to falling market prices, DA said.
In 2023, the National Food Authority received P9 billion to procure palay, which is now part of the estimated losses for the government from the Benteng Bigas Program.
