Gov’t to distribute cash aid to sari-sari stores, Sept. 25-29

CASH ASSISTANCE will be extended by the government to sari-sari or neighborhood store owners adversely affected by the imposition of the price cap on rice, Malacañang said in a statement released over the weekend.

The Palace statement said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has been tasked to distribute the cash aid on Sept. 25-29 in coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry, which will identify the beneficiaries.

Since President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered the maximum price of P41 per kilo for regular milled rice and P45 for well-milled rice beginning Sept. 5, the DSWD has released over P92 million in financial aid to 6,161 of the 8,390 targeted micro and small rice retailers affected by the price cap.

Retailers are hoping that the President would heed recommendations to lift the price cap order now that the country’s rice supply is expected to get a boost since harvest season has already begun. – Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza