MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said his administration was doing everything it could to fulfill his campaign promise of decreasing rice prices to P20 per kilogram.

"Iyong ating hangarin na 20 pesos na bigas [kada kilo] eh wala pa tayo roon, pero ginagawa natin ang lahat," he said in his speech during the nationwide launch of his administration's Kadiwa ng Pangulo program.

(On our dream of achieving rice prices of P20 per kilo, we're not there yet, but we are doing everything we can.)

Since assuming the presidency last year, Marcos has repeatedly vowed that his government was nearing the said goal, amid criticisms from farmers' and agricultural groups that such promise was "impossible" to achieve.

• Marcos on P20/kilo rice: Palapit na tayo doon
• Marcos on P20-per-kilo rice: 'Kaunti na lang'

Marcos was in San Fernando City, Pampanga on Monday to lead the nationwide launch of the Kadiwa ng Pangulo program.

Malacañang said all 81 provinces in the Philippines joined the simultaneous launch as they opened their own Kadiwa centers in their localities.

The program, one of Marcos' main initiatives as the concurrent agriculture secretary, aims to decrease prices of agricultural products by giving farmers and the buying public direct access to each other.

"Ang programa ng Kadiwa ay napakasimple lamang... [Ang] ginagawa natin ay pinapalapit natin sa magsasaka ang palengke. Kaya iyang mga middleman at added cost ay binabawasan natin nang husto iyan," he said.

(The Kadiwa program is simple; we are making farmers close to the market and reducing middlemen and added costs.)

After the launch, Marcos said the program has been "successful thus far."

But he noted that apart from decreasing prices, the ultimate goal of the Kadiwa program is to boost agriculture products so that the country has enough food supply to export to other countries.

"As I always remind everyone, just because naglagay tayo ng Kadiwa hindi ibig sabihin sapat na ang ating produksyon... We really have to continue to work very hard, hindi lang makapagsuplay ng agricultural products, ng pagkain, makapag-export pa," he told reporters."

(Just because we launched Kadiwa doesn't mean our production is stable. We have to continue to work very hard not only to supply agricultural products and food, but also to export them.)

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