Indigent households in Agusan Norte’s town benefit from PBBM’s rice program
By Nora L. Molde
BUTUAN CITY (PIA) — A total of 1,390 indigent and vulnerable households from nine barangays in Santiago, Agusan del Norte benefited from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s Bagong Pilipinas Rice Program under this year’s Local Government Support Fund (LGSF), helping families meet their food needs and ease the financial burden of daily household expenses.
Each beneficiary receives 10 kilos of rice every other month, for a total of 60 kilos per household, distributed in six tranches from May to December 2026. The municipality has a total allocation of P5 million for the program, which prioritizes families with little to no stable source of income, households living below the poverty threshold, unemployed or underemployed household heads, senior citizens without regular financial support, persons with disabilities, solo parents, families dependent on seasonal or irregular earnings, and existing social welfare beneficiaries who continue to face financial constraints.
The initiative supports President Marcos Jr.’s directive to strengthen social protection and ensure that government assistance reaches vulnerable and underserved sectors, particularly families lacking in basic needs.
Santiago Mayor Franklin D. Lim said the local government prioritizes families in need, particularly those who are not recipients of similar assistance or those identified as requiring immediate support. “Priority is given to indigent and vulnerable households that are not yet recipients of similar assistance or those identified to be in urgent need of support,” Lim said.
Meanwhile, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Ramonito P. Maestrado said the municipality conducted a systematic identification and validation process to ensure that the assistance reaches qualified beneficiaries. “To ensure that assistance reaches those who need it most, the MDRRMO and MSWDO conducted beneficiary identification in the nine barangays, with the support of the purok presidents and barangay personnel,” Maestrado said.
The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) and Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) also used available references and records to validate potential beneficiaries, with purok presidents and barangay personnel supporting the identification process.
For the beneficiaries, the rice assistance provides practical support in meeting their daily food requirements. One beneficiary expressed gratitude for the program, saying that the assistance, although modest, has helped lessen the family’s burden of finding food and has provided additional support for their daily needs.
Implemented under the LGSF, the assistance provides a total of 83,400 kilos of rice to the 1,390 beneficiary households over the six distribution periods, helping augment their food supply and household resources.
The program reflects the government’s continuing efforts to strengthen social protection and food security while promoting inclusive and responsive local governance, consistent with the Marcos administration’s commitment to ensuring that vulnerable families receive timely and meaningful government assistance. (NCLM, PIA Agusan del Norte)
