MANILA, Philippines---Bringing down the price of rice to P20 per kilo was one of the promises that made President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. win the elections, but a year later, the grain is becoming almost out of reach, especially for the poorest of the poor. Dr. Teodoro Mendoza, a retired professor of crop science at the University of the Philippines-Los Baos, pointed to what the Asian Development Bank said in 2008, when rice was only P32.71 a kilo, that "the era of cheap food is over." Some 20 years ago, based on data from the Philippine Rice Research Institute, well-milled rice was only P19.98, but now, a kilo is already P40 to P52, while the price of special and premium rice is ...Keep on reading: In chase for elusive P20 per kilo rice, gov’t told to keep farmers’ welfare in mind