Sa susunod na 2 linggo

Magsasanib-puwersa ang mga miyembro ng Kamara de Representantes at Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) sa pamimigay ng bigas at financial assistance sa may 2.5 milyong mahihirap na pamilya sa susunod na dalawang linggo sa ilalim ng “Malaya Rice Project.”

Sa isang press conference noong Huwebes ng gabi, sinabi ni Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez na ang pamimigay ng ayuda sa mga mahihirap na pamilya ay alinsunod sa pagnanais ni Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. na matulungan ang mga nangangailangan.

Hiniling ng Pangulo kay Speaker Romualdez na simulan ang programa sa Metro Manila.

Positibo ang naging pagtugon ni Speaker Romualdez at sisimulan umano ang proyekto sa tulong ng 33 kongresista mula sa National Capital Region (NCR) at DSWD Sec. Rex Gatchalian.

Ayon kay Speaker Romualdez kinausap nito ang 33 miyembro ng Kamara at inatasan na mamili ng 10,000 mahihirap na residente na siyang bibigyan ng bigas kasama ang mga senior citizens, solo parents at persons with disability.

Ang bawat benepisyaryo ay makatatanggap ng P1,000 at 15 kilong bigas na nagkakahalaga ng P500 hanggang P600.

“And we would like to have this done and replicated in other urban areas. And this will hopefully help alleviate the burden on the people and especially in the non-rice producing areas… And we would like to use this similar mechanism to buy the palay from the rice growers. And this is to afford better prices not just for the consumers, but also for the growers, for the farmers themselves. So we will start this program this October within, I think, within the next two weeks,” ani Speaker Romualdez.

Nilinaw ng lider ng Kamara na ang gagawin din ang programang ito sa iba pang mga lugar.

“Hindi ito one-shot deal. So this will be part of the program again, hand-in-hand with the DSWD using the AICS (Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation)…And once it is successful, and I’m confident that it will be…we’ll be able to replicate this and do further successive rounds of this,” saad pa ng lider ng Kamara.

Inilarawan ng lider ng Kamara na mayroong 310 miyembro ang rice distribution project bilang isang “good” initiative.

“Because as you know, the President has already taken out the caps or the ceilings on the prices [of rice]. So there might be a tendency for it to come up again. We hope that this will stave off the tendency for the prices of rice to come up again because of the widespread distribution of this program within the NCR,” sabi pa nito.

“And we’ll try to do this in other areas like Metro Cebu, Davao, in the big areas, and then further find out throughout the country, even in the rice producing areas, with the intent of buying palay at the right prices so that we make sure that everyone is afforded quality and affordable rice,” dagdag pa ni Speaker Romualdez.

Mayroong mahigit 250 legislative district sa bansa at sa inisyal na target na mabigyan ng ayuda ang 10,000 pamilya sa bawat distrito ay aabot sa 2.5 milyon ang makikinabang sa programa.