DA assures enough supply amid El Niño

MANILA – The Department of Agriculture (DA) has assured the country will have enough rice supply for the rest of the year despite the possible effects of El Niño.

Based on the rice production outlook data provided by the Department of Agriculture (DA), the total rice supply is estimated to be at 9.109 million metric of the year.

This consists of 1.850 million MT beginning stock, 5.197 million MT local pro- duction, and 2.062 million MT imports.

Total demand, meanwhile, is estimated to reach 6.990 million MT.

Data showed that the is estimated at 2.119 million metric tons, which is good for 57 days.

"That does not include the rice production in July, August, and the rest of the year. It also does not include import arrivals after June," DA Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian told the

Philippine News Agency Sunday.

"Hence, if you add those two data, we will have enough rice supply for the year plus ending supply into 2024," he said.

Sebastian said the prosemester was based on the Philippine Rice Information System (PRiSM)-remote sensing.

"For the first semester, we based our current production estimate using higher from the previous year and 59.3 percent lower than the national per capita GDP of Php178,751, PSA12 data showed.

The highest per capita GDP in 2022 was posted by the National Capital Region at P443,782 which was almost three times higher than the nationallera Administrative Region (P183,827) and Northern Mindanao (P182,356).

MANILA – Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Alfredo Pascual on Friday called on public and private sectors to push for “soft connectivity” in the Brunei Darussalam-

PHILIPPINES’ leading challenger bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), through its partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), successfully assisted hundreds of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)/Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) quickly cash out aid from the national government through RCBC ATM Go partner merchants in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, an isolated and disadvantaged area (GIDA) by the DSWD.

RCBC’s partner sarisari stores - Ebanen, Sigfred, and Negros Ricewere able to facilitate over P2 million cash withdrawals by 4Ps/CCT household

RCBC ATM Go is the based, bank-agnostic, and last-mile handheld automated teller machine, which utilizes mobile point-of-sale devices to dispense financial services in unbanked and underserved communities. RCBC is currently the only Philippine private universal bank with the most extensive reach covering 100% of the country across all its 82 provinces with close to 2,000 terminals operated by thousands of its partner merchants. More than 65 percent of RCBC ATM Go’s financial transactions are social grant cash withdrawals by CCT/4Ps the national government mostly residing in remote communities.

RCBC is also the only Philippine bank with the most ATM Go terminals in excess of 100 units serunder the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao covering Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi Tawi.

Under the RCBCDSWD Memorandum of Agreement signed in

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