DAET, Camarines Norte -- A total of 140 affected rice retailers received a Sustainable Livelihood Program-Economic Relief Subsidy (SLP-ERS) of P15,000 each in Camarines Norte.

“Dakulang tabang para makabawi at may pambakal ng bigas” ("It is a big help for us to recover and we can purchase rice”). Mary P. Castaneda, rice retailer of Mercedes, Camarines Norte said. She is one of the 90 beneficiaries of the second batch who received SLP-ERS over the weekend held at SM City Daet.

“Maganda ang programa ni President Bongbong Marcos Jr. sa mga kagaya ko na rice retailers”. (The program of President Bongbong Marcos Jr. is good for us rice retailers), Aniceta M. de Guzman of Sta. Elena, Camarines Norte said.

Meanwhile, Tomas Villaester of Paracale, Camarines Norte, said that he is happy for the additional capital that the government has provided for them.

Department of Trade and Industry Provincial Director  Christie A. Rivera said that the first batch of 50 beneficiaries received their subsidies almost in the middle of September. The beneficiaries come from five towns out of 12 in Camarines Norte.

The second batch of rice retailers comes from the 11 towns in the province, she said.

In the selection process, the DTI conducted a profiling and validation of rice retailers for the qualified retailers for submission to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with the latter implementing and distributing the cash subsidy for the SLP-ERS, Rivera explained.

During the validation, the DTI, along with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority (NFA), conducted the actual visits to rice retailers in the market.

The DTI, DA, and NFA ensure that the regular milled rice is P41 per kilogram while the well-milled rice is P45 per kilogram per Executive Order 39.

The DA and the NFA will monitor compliance with EO 39, while the Department of Interior and Local Government has earlier issued a memorandum on the role of each of the government agencies involved in the implementation of the program, she said.

Rivera said that the next batch of the implementation of SLP-ERS will be in partnership with the local government units, who will select the next beneficiaries.

The EO 39 is the imposition of mandated price ceilings on rice and  stipulating  how to be implemented in the convergence of the above-mentioned concerned government agencies. (PIA5/Camarines Norte)