The Negros Occidental provincial government will comply with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 10-day ban on local governments’ selling of rice at P20 a kilo, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said on Friday, May 2.
If they don’t comply they will be committing an election offense, he said.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the 10-day Comelec ban on the distribution of all forms of “ayuda (assistance)” includes local government’s sale of rice at P20 kilo.
The ban started Friday and will run until May 12, Garcia said.
Diaz said the provincial government has been selling cheap rice to indigents, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, single parents and other sectors for two years now through the Bigasan ng Bayan, together with the federation of irrigators associations.
They have been selling the rice at P25 a kilo with each buyer allowed to purchase 5 kilos at a time, he said.
Diaz said they will work at bringing the price down to P20.
The National Food Authority has 5,800 sacks of rice available for the food security emergency program in Negros Occidental, he said.
The provincial government has a P7 million budget for the 5,800 sacks but the mechanics on the sale of the rice at P20 a kilo will have to be put in place, he said.
Diaz said he has discussed the provincial government’s concerns with Department of Agriculture Regional Director Jose Albert Barrogo of the Negros Island Region.*