No more hungry Filipinos.
That’s what President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. wants to achieve by the end of his administration as he expanded his program making food prices affordable to poor families.
Marcos reiterated his earlier pronouncement during the expansion of Kadiwa ng Pangulo program in Manila and Batangas province on Wednesday, March 1.
President Marcos Jr. leads the opening of the Kadiwa ng Pangulo at Rizal Park in Manila on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (Noel Pabalate/MANILA BULLETIN)
“Kailangan talaga namin gawin ‘yan, dahil hindi natin pababayaan ang ating mga kababayan. At sinabi ko na, ilang beses ang aking pangarap sa aking administrasyon ay sana ay wala ng gutom na Pilipino (We really have to do that. We will not neglect our countrymen. I have said many times that it is my administration’s hope that there is no more hungry Filipinos),” he said in his speech at Rizal Park.
Meanwhile, in a succeeding speech in Sto. Tomas City in Batangas, Marcos said he would use all government programs to help small business owners, which most comprise the Kadiwa program.
“Basta nagkakaisa at nagsasama, lahat ng ahensya ng pamahalaan, lahat ng local government, at lahat ng ating producers, kasama na ang ating mga magsasaka, ay yan po ay makikita natin magiging matagumpay po itong programa na ‘to (With a unity among all the government agencies, our producers and our farmers, this program will succeed),” he said.
The President expressed the same aspiration during his meeting with the Filipino community in Thailand in November 2022.
Apart from making food prices cheap, the President also pushed for urban farming, which he said the government would support.
Marcos assured the Filipino people of his administration’s commitment to continue providing fresh and affordable agricultural and fishery products while offering additional markets for local farmers and fishermen.
The Kadiwa ng Pangulo actually built on the success of the Kadiwa ng Pasko, a program Marcos launched during the Christmas season, according to Malacañang. It made a debut in Cebu City in February before making several expansion across the country.
“Noong natapos na ‘yung Pasko, sabi ng mga iba, ipagpatuloy daw namin. Kaya’t ginawa na naming Kadiwa ng Pangulo at pinaparami natin ito sa buong Pilipinas. Hindi lang po rito kung hindi siguro halos 500 na lugar ang ating natayuan ng Kadiwa (When it ended in Christmas, many told us to continue the program. So we relaunched it as Kadiwa ng Pangulo ang made it available to many parts of the country. There are now around 500 areas with Kadiwa),” he said.
