Can an average Filipino survive on a daily food budget of PHP64, meaning breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) told a Senate hearing last week that it was possible but the typical meal would have to be meager by most standards — a cup of rice, an egg, a PHP7 pack of instant noodles, and a PHP4 pack of 3-in-1 coffee.
This led critics to say NEDA officials should try living on that budget themselves, before concluding that a person who is able to spend that sum every day will not feel “food poor.”
NEDA chief Arsenio Balisacan testified before the Senate that the PHP64/day – roughly PHP21 per meal – was today’s threshold. That anyone who could afford it could not be considered as food poor.
“As of 2023, a monthly food threshold for a family of five is PHP9,581 (about $165),” he said, “it comes out about PHP64 per person. The amount covers three daily meals per person, according to Balisacan.
In 2021, the food poor threshold was PHP55 per person, and it is expected to increase to PHP67 next year, according to the NEDA chief.
Balisacan gave the figure during the Senate hearing on NEDA’s proposed budget for 2025.
Various groups raised a howl at the NEDA figure.
Renato Reyes, president of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said the assessment showed that the Marcos administration was out of touch with the reality facing poor Filipinos who struggle daily to provide decent meals for their families.
Reyes told local media that “NEDA should try living on PHP64 per day for food for a year before coming up with the conclusion that such an amount does not make a person food poor.”
In redefining poverty, Reyes said NEDA’s thinking keeps wages low.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) agreed with Reyes, saying Balisacan and other economic managers should experience for themselves how to live on such a low budget before drawing conclusions on how ordinary Filipinos survive.
KMP chairman Danilo Ramos said the PHP21 per meal computed by NEDA is far from enough to feed even a daily wage earner.
Even the moderate Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) disagreed with NEDA.
TUCP said NEDA’s claim was an insult to every Filipino and would undermine workers’ call for a PHP150 across-the-board daily wage increase.
TUCP Vice-president Luis Corral said: “The government and employers use these silly statistics to dismiss the survival crisis of the working class to make ends meet.”
He added that the country’s chief economic planner seemed to be “on another planet to not witness the crippling impact of skyrocketing food inflation, especially rice, and electricity inflation to Filipinos every day.”
The militant labor coalition Nagkaisa, headed by Sonny Matula, said NEDA’s assumptions could put lives at risk.
According to Matula, “despite millions of pesos allotted to collect data, we are given outdated figures that do not reflect the current situation.”
He cited an Ateneo study showing that a family needs a daily budget of PHP693.30 (about $12) in order to buy the main ingredients for dishes required for the Pinggang Pinoy, a food guide for balanced meals developed by the government.
Balisacan had told the Senate that they are only changing the threshold based on inflation so they can monitor if the policies of the government on poverty are effective.
He said the reason “we are keeping it constant, in real terms after adjusting for inflation, is just to ensure that we are tracking properly the changes and allow us to understand whether our policies, our programs are working insofar as these are able to reduce poverty.”
