Manila: A total of 2,155 registered rice farmers in this city can now claim their PHP7,000 cash assistance from the Department of Agriculture (DA) under its Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund - Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RCEF-RFFA) program. In an interview on Tuesday, Laoag City agriculturist Sheila Marie Opelac said the farmer-beneficiaries should use their intervention monitoring cards to check and withdraw the amount through any BancNet automated teller machine.

According to Philippines News Agency, the cash assistance is intended for farmers tilling rice farms measuring two hectares or less and registered with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture. The funds aim to help farmers purchase fertilizers, pesticides, and other farm inputs to boost rice production. The same cash assistance for farmers in other Ilocos Norte towns was also made available before Laoag.

'Thank you to our President (Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.) for his continued support to farmers,' Celso Acidera, one of the 3,560 farmer-recipients in Bacarra town, said. Last year, the DA distributed PHP5,000 cash aid per qualified farmer. The increase for 2025 was based on tariff collections from imported rice.

In the Ilocos Region, there are 490,287 farmers who are registered in the Registry System for the Basic Sectors in Agriculture, most coming from Pangasinan, followed by Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, and La Union. President Marcos has directed the Department of Budget and Management and the DA to ensure the timely release of budget and swift delivery of all forms of support to farmers to prevent gaps, particularly during this planting season.