PBBM admin vows continued support to consumers, farmers amid movements in commodity prices – Presidential Communications Office

The administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. gave an assurance on Thursday for its continued support to the most vulnerable sectors while implementing necessary measures to respond to rising prices as inflation inched up in September this year.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that inflation in September 2023 increased to 6.1 percent, up from 5.3 percent in August, bringing the year-to-date inflation to 6.6 percent.

The increase is primarily due to higher food inflation, which rose to 10.0 percent last month from 8.2 percent in August. Higher food inflation was recorded on rice (17.9 percent from 8.7 percent), meat (1.3 percent from -0.1 percent), fruits (11.6 percent from 9.6 percent), and corn (1.6 percent from 0.9 percent).

Meanwhile, the prices of fish, vegetables, sugar, eggs, dairy products, bread, and other cereals recorded slower inflation.

“The government is committed to providing targeted assistance to affected vulnerable segments of the population while food prices remain elevated,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.

Among the government initiatives is the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) digital Food Stamp Program which was launched on September 29, 2023, the country’s first.

It is aimed at addressing the lingering incidence of food poverty and malnutrition among low-income Filipino households by providing monthly meal augmentation worth P3,000, which could benefit families classified as “food poor” by the PSA, along with pregnant and nursing mothers.

The agency will also provide a P10,000 cash subsidy to 78,000 farmers listed in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

Additionally, rice farmers are set to receive P5,000 as financial assistance to help sustain their productivity amid the increasing cost of production while the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) launched the provision of fuel subsidies to 74,089 public utility vehicles also in September.

Last September 18, the National Food Authority (NFA) Council set a new buying price for palay (unhusked rice), thus raising the buying price of dry palay from P19.00 to P23.00 and the buying