Marcos to expand direct aid if delivery improves

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said the government would expand direct aid to local governments and villages if implementation proves effective, as Manila pushes faster decentralization of social assistance amid inflation pressures.

“Don’t worry because this is not a one-time thing,” he told fire-hit residents of Obando, Bulacan in Filipino on Thursday. “We will provide 10 kilos of rice every two months, six times a year, repeatedly.”

About 2,000 residents received 10-kilo rice packs during Thursday’s distribution in the province.

Mr. Marcos said stronger coordination with local government units (LGUs) is key to improving delivery through the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF), which he said has been underused.

“If results are good, we will try the LGSF and the Socio-Civic Development Program for the village,” he said.

He added that budget allocations could be increased next year if implementation proves effective at the local level.

“If we are doing well and see implementation is good, I will increase the budget so we can help more people,” he said.

Under the Socio-Civic Development Program, each village receives P200,000, with half allocated to five presidential scholars per village, each receiving P20,000 from the Office of the President.

Mr. Marcos said education remains a central priority of the administration’s social development agenda.

“I tell them to make good use of that funding so they can graduate,” he said. “When it’s their time to become leaders… they are ready and trained.”

He said education is a right, not a privilege, and the government is expanding health access and nutrition programs and school-based feeding initiatives.

The administration is rolling out targeted subsidies to cushion households from rising prices linked to global supply shocks, including the Middle East war. Mr. Marcos recently ordered a P50 cap on imported rice prices to ease food inflation.

He also addressed the landfill fire in Obando that affected nearby communities in April, saying the blaze took more than three weeks to extinguish after spreading underground.

He warned about health risks from burning plastics and said authorities would tighten monitoring of dumpsites during dry season to prevent similar incidents.

Mr. Marcos said the administration is assessing local execution capacity to determine whether expanded transfers could be sustained across provinces, noting that stronger implementation would justify higher allocations under existing fiscal programs.

The initiative forms part of a broader effort to streamline social assistance delivery by channeling funds directly through LGUs while maintaining national oversight on targeting and monitoring.

It also reflects the administration’s push to strengthen fiscal efficiency by reducing administrative bottlenecks that delay distribution of aid in disaster-affected and low-income communities. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana