RICE AID. Workers haul rice on Friday (March 27, 2020) for the municipality of Margosatubig, Zamboanga del Sur in preparation for distribution to poor families affected by the enhanced community quarantine amid the coronavirus disease 2019. Zamboanga del Sur’s provincial government has purchased some PHP86 million worth of rice as subsidy to 137,000 families of minimum wage-earners and poor families across the province. (Photo courtesy of Jeesrel Himang, Zamboanga del Sur provincial information officer)
PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur – The provincial government has linked up with the National Food Authority (NFA) for the purchase of PHP86 million worth of rice to be given to poor families greatly affected by the enhanced community quarantine.
Governor Victor Yu said Friday the provincial government is giving rice subsidy to some 137,000 minimum wage-earners and poor families across the province.
A beneficiary-family will each receive a 25-kg. sack of rice.
Yu said there are 279,000 households in the province but the targeted recipients are those in the poverty threshold and members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
Most of the prospective recipients have no source of income as they are locked in their homes because of the existing community quarantine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), he said.
Yu said the distribution would immediately start once the delivery of the rice is completed and will be done with the assistance of the barangay officials to reach the qualified beneficiaries.
The beneficiaries will be identified based on the survey conducted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Provincial Planning and Development Office.
Meanwhile, the municipal government of the nearby town of Labangan has allocated PHP625,000 to provide rice subsidy to some 10,000 poor families. (PNA)
