President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said he was not surprised by the latest approval rating, saying that Filipinos are having a difficult time with the increasing price of basic commodities, particularly rice.

“It’s not surprising. People are having a hard time,” Marcos told the media at the sidelines of the rice distribution event in Taguig City.

President Marcos stressed that addressing the pressing concern of the people is the matter of most importance at the moment, especially ensuring that efforts to stabilize price of rice is implemented efficiently.

“That’s why we’re working very, very hard to make sure that this comes up again, not because of the survey. That’s not important to me. What’s important to me is that we make sure that people have enough to eat and that it is affordable to them,” he said.

Marcos said the government is “slowly heading” towards stabilizing the price of rice.

“I think we are slowly heading there dahil ang supply natin ay napakaganda; ang distribution siguro mayroon na tayong ginagawa doon sa pass-through para sa cost ng pag-deliver nung bigas, lalo na sa mga malalayo. NCR is included there,” he said.

The chief executive assured that more measures to help people are underway. He also mentioned efforts to distribute rice among 33 congressional districts in Metro Manila, but this program is yet to be finalized with the help from lawmakers. PND