By Junex Doronio
MANILA – The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) acknowledged on Thursday, August 15, 2024, that its current threshold for determining whether a person is “food poor” is inadequate to meet daily nutritional or dietary needs. The PSA also mentioned that the methodology used to set this food poverty ceiling is currently under review.
The controversy began on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, when the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) announced that as of 2023, the food threshold is set at ₱9,581 annually, which translates to ₱64 per person per day, or ₱21.33 per meal. NEDA claimed that only those spending below ₱64 per day would be considered “food-poor.”
IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa criticized the government’s approach, urging a more realistic calculation of the food poverty threshold.
“A low-ambition, low-poverty threshold results in low efforts to address poverty, ensuring the continued growth of hidden poverty in the Philippines,” Africa remarked.
He emphasized the need for accurate poverty thresholds to effectively combat poverty in the country, arguing that ambitious targets for poverty reduction must be based on realistic data.
“It’s easy for them to claim that poverty will be reduced to single digits by the end of the Marcos administration…but that’s not truly reducing poverty. We believe the government should adopt a more realistic poverty threshold to increase ambition in poverty reduction and take the necessary steps to achieve it,” Africa stressed.
The National Nutrition Council (NNC) also criticized NEDA’s calculation, pointing out that ₱64 a day is insufficient to provide an individual with adequate energy and nutrients.
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