About 200 rice retailers in Negros Occidental, including 27 from Bacolod City, will receive P15,000 each in subsidies at the Bacolod City Government Center on Thursday, September 21, Lynna Cardinal, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial head, said on Tuesday.
The recipients are those who have complied with Executive Order 39 setting the price cap for well-milled rice at P45 a kilo and regular-milled rice at P41, she said.
The DTI identifies the qualified recipients and the Department of Social Welfare and Development provides the funds.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said they have monitored some retailers already selling rice at P41 a kilo in Bacolod City.
FREE RICE
Meanwhile, Benitez said Bacolod City distributed free 2-kilo rice packs to 256,672 Bacolod residents or about 70 percent of their target as of Saturday, September 16.
There will be a special distribution for city government employees who manned the distribution centers for two weekends and were not able to receive their shares, he said.
The rest of the undistributed rice will be stockpiled for distribution during emergencies, he said.*