MANILA, Philippines – KINOKONSIDERANG ‘food poor’ ang mga indibiduwal na gumagastos ng P64 pababa para sa ‘3 meals’ kada araw.
Sa unang araw ng Senate hearing sa panukalang 2025 budget, tinanong kasi si NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan hinggil sa ‘current threshold’ para makonsiderang “food poor” ang isang tao.
“As of 2023, a monthly food threshold for a family of five is 9,581 pesos. It comes out about P64 per person,” ayon kay Balisacan.
Sakop na aniya ng nasabing halaga ang ‘three daily meals’ kada isang tao.
Maituturing na ang halaga ay tumaas na mula noong 2021 kung saan ang ‘food poor’ threshold ay P55 kada tao at inaasahan na tataas ito ng P67 sa 2025.
Ang paliwanag ni Balisacan, binabago lamang nila ang threshold base sa inflation upang sa gayon ay masubaybayan nila kung ang polisiya ng gobyerno sa kahirapan ay epektibo.
“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,” ani Balisacan.
“There are certain things that need to be constant, but there are certain things that have to be adjusted because when you compute poverty thresholds using an old number which is obviously not workable anymore, P20 per meal eh hindi totoo ‘yung poverty forecast [niyo],” ang sinabi naman ni Senator Grace Poe.
Sumang-ayon naman si Balisacan na ito na ang tamang panahon para muling pagtuunan ng pansin ang kanilang threshold.
“The basket has not been changed for some time. Although, the value of that basket has been adjusted for inflation… We’ll be revisiting, I think it’s due for revisit of that poverty threshold, natin kasi medyo matagal na rin, more than a decade na ‘yon since it was set. I think, the changes in the economy warrant a revisit already of the threshold,” aniya pa rin.
“The Department of Health and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, sila ho ang nag-determine ng basket na ‘yon and what constitutes a reasonable food basket that could meet the nutritional particularly calorie requirement,” ang winika ni Balisacan.
Sinabi ni Balisacan na ang muling pagtuon ng pansin sa food basket ay makokonsiderang food preferences, ang kaugnay na presyo ng mga kalakal, bukod sa iba pa. Kris Jose
