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FACT CHECK: Prices of goods at Kadiwa stores subsidized by the government

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In his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 24, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the past months saw a decrease in the prices of goods. He said it’s possible to bring down the prices of rice, meat, fish, vegetables, and sugar, which are among the country’s basic commodities.

Marcos, who is also secretary of the Department of Agriculture, noted that the Kadiwa stores largely contributed to the supposed drop in prices by directly linking the farmers to the buyers and doing away with intermediaries, thus eliminating additional cost and markup. “The farmers earn well. The buyers also spend less,” he said in Filipino.

He did not mention, however, that Kadiwa stores are being subsidized by the government.

Kadiwa stores are selling rice at P25 per kilo with a maximum buy of four kilos per person, sugar at P70 per kilo, and red onions at P170 per kilo.

In wet markets in the National Capital Region, as of July 7, sugar retail prices ranged from P88 to P110 per kilo, with P95 per kilo as the prevailing price. In groceries and supermarkets, the prices ranged from P86 to P114 per kilo, with P105 per kilo as the prevailing price.

In his SONA, the President, however, did not mention that Kadiwa stores are selling at prices subsidized by the government, a scheme that an expert said “could be unsustainable.”

“You can only keep it up briefly… for a few weeks (or) months as it will cost the government money. I think that if we view KADIWA as a targeted, short-term assistance, it will be useful, but over the long term, it is wasteful,” Bruce J. Tolentino, a member of the Monetary Board, told reporters during a seminar hosted by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and San Miguel Corp. on May 6 this year.

“It’s quick-acting but it is usually not sustainable. It will only last until ‘ayuda’ (government aid) is available. KADIWA offers cheap food — bought by the DA (Department of Agriculture) at a high market price and sold at a subsidized price, but how long can they keep those subsidies?” he added.

In a post on her blog dated January 14 this year, economist Winnie Monsod, quoting a finding by Ombudsman Samuel Martires, said that earlier in the same month, the DA bought onions from a cooperative “at P140 million at P537 per kg and sells them through the Kadiwa at P170, thus losing about P96  million.”

“Selling at P170 was clearly to create the impression that Filipinos were now paying only that amount for onions, or the Kadiwa was doing a great job,” Monsod added.

In his SONA, Marcos said the government will expand and strengthen the Kadiwa stores. Last year though he said Kadiwa operations would only be extended until March this year.

Higher prices of rice

Since the start of 2023, the prices of rice have not gone down based on monitoring done by the DA. On January 2, the prices of local special rice per kilo ranged from P48 to P60, premium rice from P40 to P48, well milled rice from P38 to P44, and regular rice from P35 to P40 at markets in the National Capital Region.

On July 21, three days before the SONA, local special rice in the NCR remained at P48 to P60 per kilo. Premium rice increased to P42 to P49, well milled rice to P40 to P49, and regular rice to 36 to P44.

Three days after the SONA, on July 27, the price range of local special rice stayed at P48 to P60 per kilo. Premium rice rose to P44 to P49, well milled rice to P41 to P49, and regular rice to P37 to P44. https://www.da.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Price-Monitoring-July-27-2023.pdf

The prices of local rice did not differ much with those of imported rice.

As of July 30, the price monitoring on July 27 was the latest information available on the DA website.

During the election campaign last year, then candidate Marcos vowed to lower the prices of rice to P20 per kilo.

As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)

MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism. It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media.

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About MindaNews Fact Check

MindaNews Fact Check seeks to fight misinformation and disinformation circulating on the internet, news platforms and communities that we serve.
 
What is MindaNews Fact Check?
MindaNews Fact Check tracks and debunks fake news, false claims and misleading statements of government officials, civil society leaders and netizens being spread on the internet, especially on social media sites. MindaNews values truth and accuracy in performing our journalistic work.
Why we fact-check?
Politicians, government officials and other public and private figures at times tend to bend facts to suit or advance their vested interests, or their principals, in effect misleading the public. The distorted facts spread easily with the popularity of the internet and the wide influence of social media.
 
As independent journalists, our primordial duty is to tell the truth and present facts to help the public discern issues and concerns impacting their lives.
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We post our fact-checked stories in mindanews.com, on Facebook and Twitter with links to the original piece. We have a dedicated fact check page, where all fact-checked stories can be found.
How did MindaNews Fact Check start?

Since its establishment in 2001, MindaNews has been living up to its vision of being the “leading provider of accurate, timely and comprehensive news and information on Mindanao and its peoples, serving economically, politically and culturally empowered communities” and its mission to “professionally and responsibly cover Mindanao events, peoples and issues to inform, educate, inspire and influence communities.”

MindaNews was founded by reporters precisely to ensure that reports about Mindanao, an island grouping that has suffered misinformation and disinformation long before these words became fashionable, are accurate.
 
Our policy has always been to ensure that reports are thoroughly vetted before they are dispatched and uploaded on our website.
 
Our fact-checking initiative with a uniform format started in October 2021 as part of Internews’ pioneering Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator (PFCI) project. Internews is an international non-profit that supports independent media from 100 countries.
 
Prior to the PFCI project, MindaNews co-founded Tsek.ph, a collaboration among Philippine media institutions to fight disinformation and misinformation during the 2019. Tsek.ph did the same thing for the 2022 elections.
 
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MindaNews has sustained its operation through proceeds from subscriptions of its news service (news, special reports, opinion pieces, photos) and sales of books. It also receives grants from non-state actors. Editorial prerogative, however, is left entirely to MindaNews.
 
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For MindaNews’ fact-checking initiatives, it received support from Internews (September 2021 to October 2022) and the BUILD grant administered by the International Fact-Checking Network (August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024).
 
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MindaNews encourages the public to provide us with leads not only for potential fact-check pieces but other news stories as well of interest to the general public.
Our fact checks include this paragraph encouraging readers to be part of the process: “As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact check pieces.”

MindaNews Fact Check - Methodology

What standards do you follow when fact-checking?


As a news organization, we strictly adhere to accuracy, fairness, balance, independence, accountability and transparency not just in our fact-checking initiative but in all other aspects of our work at MindaNews.


We abide by the Philippine Press Institute’s Journalist’s Code of Ethics. Since we became part of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator project, we have been striving to adhere with the IFCN Code of Principles, in step with our organization’s commitment to non-partisanship, transparency and fairness.


We fact-check a claim that is specifically claimed to be a fact and involved the public interest or the welfare of the people. We debunk false claims using official government records, journals or interviews with experts. 


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Step 1: Team members monitor press conferences, speeches, statements, news, interviews, social media sites, etc. for statements worth fact-checking.


Step 2: When a claim is worth fact-checking, a team member looks for multiple sources to dispute the claim, including tracing the original source document.


Step 3:  Fact-checked claims are then submitted to the editor for copy editing and vetting. The link/s to debunk the claim are always included in the story.  


Step 4: A rating card is prepared to accompany the fact-checked piece, or infographics if needed, to immediately flag readers what the article is all about. 


Step 5: The senior editor takes another look before the article is posted on the website and social media accounts.

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Consistent with our vision and mission as a media institution, we rectify any error committed. If you spot a factual error, you may notify us thru editor@mindanews.com or our Facebook Messenger @Mindanews.


Correction Workflow


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About MindaNews

MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism (MinJourn). It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media. MinJourn, which is duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission with registration number CN201700385, is managed by its Board of Directors.

MindaNews values its journalistic independence. It started in May 2001 as a media cooperative and in January 2017 registered as a nonstock, nonprofit media organization.  We do not  accept funding from politicians, political parties or partisan groups.

Editorial staff

Fact-checking Unit: Romer (Bong) Sarmiento, Yas D. Ocampo

 

Mindanao Institute of Journalism

 

Board of Directors

President & CEO: Jowel Canuday, D.Phil. (oxon.)
Vice President: Romer S. Sarmiento

Members
Carolyn O. Arguillas, M.A.
Rhodora Gail T. Ilagan, Ph.D.
Amalia B. Cabusao (Doc Can.)
Robert D. Timonera
Ellen P. Alinea