Poe blasts Neda: P10K monthly living standard is possible 15 years ago

Senator Grace Poe. INQUIRER.net / CATHY MIRANDA

The “hypothetical” P10,000 monthly living standard for a family of five given by a National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) official was  “fake news,” Senator Grace Poe said on Thursday.

Poe, chair of the Senate public services committee, also dared government officials “who would cling to their faulty figure” to prove their statement “by staging a reality show ala ‘Survivor,’ where they would live on a budget of P10,000 a month.”

The senator said it was only possible to survive with such meager amount 15 years ago.

“It is a throwback estimate, meaning it was possible to survive on that amount 15 years ago, before the age of Facebook. Only an economist who has been living under a rock will believe that a family of five can live decently on P334 a day,” she said in a statement.

The senator added the amount would perhaps be enough “if the family will go on a forced diet, live off the grid in a lean-to, forego schooling, among other deprivations.”

On Tuesday, Neda Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon was quoted as saying that the living standard of a Filipino family of five is only P10,000 a month. Out of which only P3,834 are needed for food or P127 a day.

But Edillon later clarified that the number was just a “hypothetical figure,” and that they have yet to finish their study on how much is a decent budget for a family to live with.

Despite this, the country’s various labor groups have expressed outrage over Neda’s “insulting” and “inaccurate” claim. /jpv

READ: Outraged workers tell Neda execs: Try living on P10K a month