PhilRice wants 'half-cup rice' in dining places

To reduce rice wastage, the agriculture department’s Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) is pushing for a bill that will require food establishments to offer half cup of rice, a measure that President Marcos filed when he was still a senator.

- ALEXIS ROMERO

PhilRice development communication division head Hazel Antonio noted that there are 46 local ordinances requiring food businesses to include half cup of rice in their menu, but a law is needed to make the policy effective nationwide. “We had a proposed Senate bill before by

President BBM (Bongbong Marcos) when he was still a senator on half cup of rice. It was not passed... But we’ll try to revive that and to have another Senate bill,” Antonio said at a press briefing yesterday in Malacañang.

Antonio said PhilRice has asked the office of Sen. Loren Legarda to sponsor the measure on half cup of rice, which was previously known as the proposed “AntiRice Wastage Act of 2013.”