PAYOUT. The last batch of micro rice retailers in Negros Oriental receives on Thursday (Oct. 5, 2023) PHP 15,000 each in government cash assistance to defray losses due to the rice price cap. Despite the lifting of the mandated price ceiling on regular- and well-milled rice, these beneficiaries still qualified for the cash aid as they were profiled during the coverage period of EO 39 last month. (PNA photo courtesy of DTI-Negros Oriental)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Government payout for profiled and qualified micro rice retailers in Negros Oriental continued on Thursday despite the lifting of Executive Order 39 (EO 39) mandating a price cap on the staple.
Krystle Jade Bato, information officer of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Negros Oriental, said the last batch of qualified beneficiaries to the Emergency Relief Subsidy (ERS) received their PHP 15,000 cash assistance each this week.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DWSD) distributed the assistance under the agency’s Sustainable Livelihood Program to 30 beneficiaries on Wednesday and 28 others on Thursday, Bato said.
“They could not come to Robinsons Place last Friday (Oct. 1) for the distribution to more than 400 micro rice retailers as many of them are living in far-away places in the province but they were profiled during the effectivity of the rice price cap,” Bato said.
She clarified that this would be the last payout of the government cash assistance in the province after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. announced the lifting of EO 39 on Wednesday.
A total of PHP8.040 million have been given out to 526 micro rice retailers for the last three batches.
Meanwhile, the DTI is monitoring rice prices following the lifting of the price cap, said Nimfa Virtucio, the provincial DTI head here.
She said they are still awaiting guidelines from higher authorities but confident that the prices of rice will now remain at a relatively low level considering importation arrivals and the wholesalers are still selling the staple at lower costs. (PNA)
