‘They can spend it on any rice retailer’
Beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) can spend their financial assistance for their rice subsidy at any rice retailer store.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7) gave this statement yesterday after issues about where to spend the beneficiaries’ rice subsidy surfaced during the cash payout in Santa Fe town in northern Cebu.
The issues were highlighted when some of the 380 beneficiaries of Barangay Okoy claimed about being forced to buy “low-quality” rice during the rice subsidy distribution last June 19.
“It is reiterated that rice subsidy is in the form of cash, and Pantawid beneficiaries have the freedom to choose where to buy the staple food of their choice. We understand that some would like to have rice, others corn or even root crops,” said DSWD-7 Director Ma. Evelyn B. Macapobre in a statement.
The beneficiaries claimed that after they were given their P1,200 cash, which is two months’ worth of rice subsidy, they were told to get in line to exchange their money for coupons, which would be exchanged for a half sack of rice.
Santa Fe Mayor Jose Esgana earlier said that the local government unit had nothing to do with the payout and distribution of the rice subsidy.
According to the DSWD-7 statement, there are beneficiaries of the DSWD Sustainable Livelihood Program who have organized themselves and formed Sustainable Livelihood Program Associations (SLPAs), and some of these organizations are engaged in the business of selling rice.
Esgana claimed that there is a memorandum from DSWD-7 stating that 4Ps beneficiaries must buy their rice from an SLPA rice retailer.
But the DSWD-7 clarified in a later statement that 4Ps beneficiaries could spend their rice subsidy and buy rice from a retailer of their choice. /Reporter