Marcos vows to address rising rice prices, make Kadiwa stalls permanent

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. promised to address soaring food prices and bare plans to make Kadiwa stalls a permanent fixture nationwide during his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

Despite impressive economic data showing the Philippines as one of the best-performing countries in Asia, Marcos said that the statistics mean nothing to Filipinos grappling with the high prices for goods, particularly rice.

"Bagamat maganda ang mga istatistikang ito, wala itong kabuluhan sa ating kababayan na hinaharap ang realidad na mataas ang presyo ng mga bilihin, lalo na ang pagkain — lalo’t higit, ng bigas (Although these statistics are impressive, they mean nothing to our fellow citizens who face the reality of high prices for goods, especially food — especially rice,)" the president said.

Marcos, who served as agriculture secretary for 17 months before billionaire and fishing tycoon Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. took over, emphasized the government's efforts to expand the KADIWA program in partnership with local governments.

The program, managed by the Department of Agriculture (DA), aims to provide affordable food options to Filipinos across the country by linking farmers directly with consumers.

“Nagsilbing kaagapay ng taong-bayan ang Kadiwa sa panahon na mataas ang presyo ng pagkain. Dahil naging epektibo ito, ang mga Kadiwa Centers ay magpapatuloy pa,” the president said.

(The Kadiwa stalls supported the public during times of high food prices. Because it has proven effective, the Kadiwa Centers will continue.)

“Katuwang ang mga lokal na pamahalaan, dinagdagan pa natin ang mga Kadiwa sa iba't ibang panig ng bansa. Higit sa lahat, layunin nating gawing permanente at mas madalas pa ang pagdaraos ng mga Kadiwa,” he added.

(In partnership with local governments, we have increased the number of Kadiwa stalls across different parts of the country. More importantly, our goal is to make Kadiwa stalls permanent and more frequent.)

The initiative has resulted in the establishment of 500 Kadiwa stalls now operational across the country.

Rice at Kadiwa stores is sold for as low P29 per kilo.

Recent monitoring by the DA in Metro Manila markets revealed that the retail price for local regular milled rice ranged from P45 to P50 per kilo.

Local well-milled rice was priced between P48 and P55 per kilo, local premium rice between P50 and P58 per kilo, and local special rice between P57 and P65 per kilo.

For imported rice, regular milled varieties were priced between P46 and P51 per kilo, well-milled rice between P51 and P55 per kilo, premium rice between P52 and P60 per kilo, and special rice between P55 and P65 per kilo.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, rice inflation slightly increased from 23% in May to 22.5% in June.