Manila, April 30 -- For some poor families in Eastern Visayas, the availability of PHP20 per kilogram of rice means more budget for other daily needs.

Myrna Pedrosa, 24, a resident of San Juan village here, said that if cheaper rice becomes available, she could buy a small pack of milk every morning instead of coffee for her six-year-old child.

"We have been spending PHP50 per day for rice alone. The expensive rice limits our ability to buy other needs of our family," she told the Philippine News Agency.

Her common-law husband only earns PHP300 daily from catching fish near the iconic San Juanico Bridge that links the islands of Leyte and Samar.

One of her neighbors, Dolores Limpin, 65, is grateful to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr....