By E.H. Edejer | September 6, 2025

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Around 300 workers from a manufacturing company in this free port availed of low-cost rice on Thursday, Sept. 4, the second time that Subic wage-earners benefited under the government’s expanded “Benteng Bigas Meron (BBM) Na” program.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in cooperation with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) facilitated the project to bring P20-per-kilo rice to employees of Cresc Inc., an ink refilling and manufacturing firm at the Moonbay Marina complex here.

The beneficiary workers received 10 kilos of rice each, the maximum monthly allocation for beneficiaries under the program.

SBMA Labor Department manager and OIC-Deputy Administrator for Legal Affairs Melvin Varias said the workers shall pay for the rice through salary deduction, as arranged with the Cresc management.

Both SBMA Chairman Eduardo Jose L. Aliño and Cresc Inc. president Kazutomo Murata witnessed the distribution and lauded the project spearheaded by DOLE Chief Labor and Employment Officer Reynante Lugtu.

“I’m glad that this program would greatly help the minimum wage earners here whom we regard as the bloodline of our economy,” Aliño said. 

“You have President Marcos who loves you. We don’t have this in Japan,” Murata meanwhile told workers. 

Last Thursday’s “Benteng Bigas” distribution was the second project conducted in Subic by DOLE under the government program to provide affordable food options for low-income workers and cushion the impact of rising prices of essential goods.

Last July, the DOLE and SBMA jointly distributed P20-per-kilo rice to some 2,900 workers of Sanyo Denki Philippines, Inc., a manufacturer of cooling fans and power systems at the Subic Techno Park, as well as employees of its partner manpower agencies.

Malacañang announced last month the expansion of the “Benteng Bigas Meron (BBM) Na” program to cover 15 million families, or about 60 million Filipinos, until the end of Pres. Marcos’s term in 2028.

Originally intended for participants of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the Walang Gutom Program, senior citizens, persons with disability, solo parents, and minimum wage earners, the program was recently extended to benefit farmers and fisherfolk as well. 