P64 enough not to consider a Filipino 'food poor'

A FILIPINO spending more than P64 for food per day is not considered food poor, National Economic Development Authority (Neda) secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

During the first hearing on the proposed 2025 budget on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, Balisacan said as of 2023, the food threshold for a family of five was P9,581 per month or P64 per person per day.

He said the daily food threshold per person covers three meals.

The food-poor threshold, which is being adjusted depending on the current inflation, was at P55 per person per day in 2021.

Balisacan said it is expected to increase to P67 per person per day in 2025.

“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, programs are working insofar as these are able to reduce poverty,” Balisacan said.

Balisacan, however, agreed that the figure is no longer responsive to the current times considering the price of rice per kilo alone exceeds the threshold.

He raised the need to review the threshold, noting that the computation for the basket was from the recommended food items from the Department of Health amd the Food and Nutrition Research Institute.

Senator Grace Poe said during the hearing that the poverty forecast is not accurate.

“P20 per meal? Hindi totoo ang poverty forecast n’yo,” she said.

(P20 per meal? Your poverty forecast is not accurate.)

As defined by the Philippine Statistics Authority, the poverty threshold is the average amount a family of five needs in order to meet their needs, either food or non-food items. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)