FACT CHECK: Rice subsidy program not open to all Filipinos

Only members of vulnerable sectors — indigents, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and solo parents, among others — are eligible to buy rice at P20 per kilo

Claim: All Filipinos are eligible to receive rice subsidies to be given away through a barangay distribution program. Registration must be done through an online link.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The Facebook page “Ph News update,” which has 66,000 followers, posted the video on September 19. It has 5,400 reactions, 1,700 comments, and 2,900 shares as of writing.

The video shows a supposed employee of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) saying, “Para sa lahat ng Pilipino, kahit hindi 4Ps members, simula Lunes, September 22, 2025, mamahagi ng rice subsidy sa bawat barangay.”

(Starting on September 22, 2025, all Filipinos — even those who are not 4Ps members — are eligible to receive rice subsidies to be distributed in their barangays.)

The woman in the video also encouraged viewers to follow their social media pages and register using the link attached to the post. Many social media users posted comments expressing their interest in being part of the program. Some of these comments included personal information, such as their contact number and address.

The facts: There is no nationwide online form for the public to register for the rice subsidy program, which is currently specifically targeted towards vulnerable and low-income sectors.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) offers subsidized rice through the KADIWA ng Pangulo program, which sells rice at P20 per kilo. Only members of the following sectors are eligible for the program:

Vulnerable sectors (indigents, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and solo parents)
Rice farmers and farmworkers
Fishery sector
Transport sector
Minimum wage earners

Initially launched in May as a pilot program in select Visayan areas, the initiative is now expanding to areas in Luzon and Mindanao. The government is looking to sustain the rice program and cover up to 15 million Filipino households, or about 60 million people, by the end of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term in 2028.

In September, the government announced that the P20 per kilo rice would be available for all Filipinos, but it was only a special one-day offering to celebrate Marcos’ birthday.

Fake content: Hive Moderator’s AI-Generated & Deepfake Content Detector tagged the video as AI-generated. There were also inconsistencies in the audio, particularly in the narrator’s mispronunciations, indicating that it is inauthentic.

The links included in the caption are fake as well.

Results from urlscan.io revealed that the links lead to a blog site rather than an official government website. (READ: Phishing 101: How to spot and avoid phishing)

Debunked: Rappler has previously debunked similar false claims about government aid and subsidy programs:

– Lourence Angelo Marcellana/Rappler.com

Lourence Angelo Marcellana is a Rappler intern. He is a fourth-year journalism student from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the former Editor-in-Chief of PUP College of Communication’s The Communicator.

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