Negros Occidental’s provincial government began this week the distribution of PHP170.99 million worth of rice assistance to poor and near-poor households through the Local Government Support Fund – Financial Assistance (LGSF-FA) granted by the national government.

Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said the rice distribution continued in Don Salvador Benedicto and Pontevedra after the rollout kicked off in Candoni and Murcia on Monday.

“The provincial government, led by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, will continue to avail of national programs and ensure its proper implementation,” he said in a statement Tuesday.

The province purchased 251,470 10-kg. sacks of rice for the target 125,735 beneficiary households in all 19 municipalities and 12 cities for implementation under the Assistance to Indigent Individuals or Families-Food Assistance Rice Distribution Project.

Each beneficiary household is set to receive a 10-kg. rice allocation for each quarter, in the third and fourth quarters this year.

Based on the initial distribution, Murcia has 3,553 beneficiary households; Candoni, 1,797; Don Salvador Benedicto, 3,046; and Pontevedra, 1,330.

Diaz said the list of beneficiaries came from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Community-Based Monitoring System.

He assured all cities and municipalities that they will receive an equitable share of the food assistance, based on the preferred schedules of distribution submitted by their respective mayors.

“Together with our local government units, we make sure it reaches our intended beneficiaries, and no low-income family is left behind. Thank you, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., for allowing Negros Occidental to participate in this program,” he added. (PNA)