Senator pushes Neda data adjustment

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian —File photo/Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) to review and make the basis of its poverty threshold figures more realistic in order for the government to respond and address poverty issues properly.

“Let’s make it more realistic because it seems that we’re just fooling ourselves when the numbers are not realistic. And our respond to our poor fellow citizens would also not be realistic because the help that we provide to them depends on the statistics given by our government,” Gatchalian said in a radio interview on Sunday.

During the Development Budget Coordination Committee briefing last week, Neda classified a household of five as “food poor” if each member spends less than P64 a day on meals.

READ: You’re not food poor if you spend at least P64 daily for meals – Neda

This means an individual is not “food poor” if he has a budget of a little over P20 for each of the three meals needed daily.

“As of 2023, the monthly food threshold for a family of five is P9,581. That comes out to about P64 per person (per day),” Neda Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told senators.

The lawmakers scoffed at the Neda figure.

They also questioned the official poverty threshold of P91.22 per person a day, which means an individual who earns P91.22 on a daily basis is no longer considered poor by the government.

“For me that’s unrealistic. They were using figures or prices or what they call the least cost in a particular area. But we know that when we go to the market or groceries, while there are suggested retail prices, these are not being followed. Realistically, what the people are able to buy are goods, which prices are higher than the supposed least cost,” Gatchalian said.

“[Neda] uses the least cost as basis of their study. But when you sell a product, the seller, the one who delivers, they all have to make a profit so the prices of the products get higher. So for me the P91 poverty threshold is no longer accurate,” he added.

“Another is the food menu. They assume that all people in the country eat the same food every day. We know that that is not the case. Realistically, we know that we eat different kinds of food … the assumption that they used to come up with the P91 per day result is no longer realistic,” the senator stressed.