Bacolod city: The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will lead the distribution of the PHP20 per kg rice to 275 minimum wage workers of Innovative Skills Labor Service Cooperative (iSkills) here on Friday. The iSkills workers are the second batch and the biggest group so far to benefit from the 'Benteng Bigas Meron (BBM) Na! for Minimum Wage Earners' Program in Negros Occidental.

According to Philippines News Agency, DOLE-Negros Occidental Provincial Head Carmela Abellar stated that the initiative aims to provide essential food support to minimum wage earners in line with the government's continuing efforts to alleviate the effects of rising living costs. "The BBM Na! Program is a targeted rice subsidy program designed to uphold the dignity and welfare of Filipino workers by ensuring access to affordable and quality rice," she said.

Earlier, about 100 minimum wage workers of a manpower agency hiring for a distillery plant in Bago City also availed of the PHP20 per kg rice. Under the program, low-income workers can purchase up to 10 kg of subsidized National Food Authority rice each month.

Companies have signed a memorandum of agreement with the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) to avail of the PHP20 per kg rice for their workers. FTI's partner-companies shoulder the logistics cost, and the manpower firms pay the FTI for their rice sale under the 'BBM Na' program.

According to the Department of Agriculture, 1.2 million kg of rice will be allocated monthly for 120,000 minimum wage earners in the country.