A new KADIWA ng Pangulo center opened Monday at the Clark Special Economic Zone, expanding the Department of Agriculture's initiative to make food more affordable and accessible to minimum-wage earners and other beneficiaries under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s flagship Benteng Bigas, Meron Na! program.
The KADIWA hub and the P20-per-kilo rice rollout will prioritize low-income workers identified by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) among the freeport's 151,000 employees.
"With approximately 151,000 employees in CDC, where around 50 percent are minimum-wage earners endorsed by DOLE, this initiative brings essential and affordable food directly to the workforce that keeps this economic hub moving," said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr.
The Benteng Bigas, Meron Na! program delivers subsidized, locally produced rice to senior citizens, persons with disabilities, minimum-wage earners, farmers, fisherfolk and low-income families.
Since its launch in May, the P20-rice initiative has expanded to 423 sites across 81 provinces, supported by the DA, Food Terminal Inc. and the NFA, while the KADIWA ng Pangulo network is run by the DA's Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Service.
The DA is also strengthening its P20 Benteng Bigas Masterlist Registry System, now with 35,014 registered beneficiaries, to ensure transparent and orderly distribution of subsidized rice to around 15 million households by 2026.
The event also marked the turnover of CDC's state-of-the-art tissue culture laboratory to the DA, boosting the agency's research capacity, improving planting materials and supporting sustainable food production.
It will also strengthen nurseries, demonstration farms and production hubs under the DA-CDC Zero Kilometer Food System initiative, which promotes wider access to fresh, locally grown produce.
According to the DA, the laboratory will directly support efforts toward sustainable sourcing, enhanced productivity and agricultural modernization.