THE city government of Taguig agreed in a meeting called by the Department of Education to provide benefits to about 30,000 students of schools transferred from Makati to Taguig jurisdiction.

The transition became mandatory with the Supreme Court’s final decision giving Taguig jurisdiction over 10 barangays that had been previously under Makati.

Despite the obstacles and delays, Taguig said it is now ready to provide the affected EMBO students all the benefits now enjoyed by Taguig students — not just free uniform and shoes but also scholarships for all, not just the 100 percent, from P25-10K grants for those taking vocational 2-year or 4-year courses, those taking master’s and doctorate degrees and those reviewing for board and bar exams.

Taguig is asking Makati to turn over to Taguig, at least as a preliminary step: 1. the list of Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities so that we can start giving them door to door their birthday gifts; 2. the list of residents with asthma, hypertension and diabetes so that we can deliver their maintenance medications monthly door to door; 3. the list of bedridden residents so that our health personnel can visit them regularly and provide them with care at home; 4. the list of taxpayers so they can immediately avail our lower tax rate; 5. the streets in EMBO for motorists to enjoy Taguig’s No Number Coding policy.

RICE YIELD UP

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. welcomed a report on the impressive growth in rice production for the first six months of the year.

In a meeting in Malacañang with the Economic Development Group, Department of Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban cited a Philippine Statistics Authority report that confirmed that palay output from January to June 2023 rose to 9 million metric tons, from 8.7 MMT produced for the same period last year and in 2021.

The figure is even higher than what the Department of Agriculture earlier projected.

The President said a 3%-growth in production over the same period in 2022 is “excellent news”.

The President also said the higher production figure is a big boost to the country’s rice supply which is sufficient until the end of the year even with the impact of super typhoon Egay.

The PSA report is also higher than the PRISM (Philippine Rice Information System) estimate of 8.7 MMT(300,000 MT more) which the DA earlier used in its rice supply outlook.

Agriculture Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development Leocadio Sebastian, for his part, said the 9.0 MMT palay is equivalent to 5.9 MMT milled rice (200.000 MT more than the PRISM estimate of 5.7MMT), adding that 9MMT palay production for the first half of 2023 is also higher than the production levels for the first half output of 2022 and 2021.

With the 3% production growth in the 1st Semester, we can expect that, barring the occurrence of destructive typhoons, the production for 2023 could surpass 20 MMT, Sebastian declared. The country’s rice production will continue to grow considering the good palay price in the previous cropping and provision of various interventions by the DA (e.g., seeds, fertilizers, biofertilizers, soil ameliorants, and farm machinery extension support). PCO