IBON calls for ‘more realistic’ food poverty threshold

The P64 "food-poor" threshold set by NEDA “really grossly underestimate[s]” the poverty threshold in the country, development organization IBON Foundation said Wednesday.

“Sa amin, hindi yun maganda kasi [For us, that’s not really good because] policy-wise, if you underestimate the poverty threshold, you also underestimate poverty. People who are actually poor, hindi uulat [will not report] as officially poor… It explains [the] huge discrepancy between official poverty figures tsaka halimbawa yung self-rated poverty na ginagawa ng SWS, [and, for example, the self-rated poverty measured by the SWS]," IBON executive director Sonny Africa told GMA News Online.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) defines the poverty threshold, or poverty line, as the average amount a family of five will need "to meet their minimum basic food and non-food needs" every month. The food threshold, meanwhile, is what this same family of five needs every month to meet their minimum basic food needs.

On Tuesday, NEDA said that as of 2023, the food threshold is P9,581, or P64 per person per day, or P21.33 per person per meal. Only spending below this amount would be considered being "food-poor."

Africa said the Philippine government should take a more realistic approach to calculating the food poverty threshold.

“If [there is] low-ambition, low-poverty threshold, low-effort to actually address poverty, guaranteed, the hidden poverty of the Philippines will keep growing,” he said.

Africa emphasized the importance of accurate poverty thresholds in combating poverty in the country, stating that ambitious targets for poverty reduction come from realistic data on poverty.

“Madali nilang sabihin na maging single digit ang poverty by the end of the Marcos administration...[but] that’s not actually reducing poverty. Sa amin [For us], I think it behooves the government to have a more realistic poverty threshold [so that there will be more] ambition to reduce poverty and also, to take the necessary measures to achieve that,” he said.

(It’s easy for them to say that poverty will be in single digits by the end of the Marcos administration term… [but] that’s not actually reducing poverty.)

NEDA's P64 calculation has been criticized, including by at least one government agency. The National Nutrition Council said P64 a day would not allow an individual to get enough energy and nutrients.

Fishers group Pamalakaya, meanwhile, called it unrealistic and accused the government of setting the threshold low in order to justify low wages, and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) called the government out of touch. "NEDA should try living on P64 per day for food for a year, before coming up with conclusions that such an amount does not make a person food-poor," Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes said in a statement.

IBON calculations

IBON Foundation said based off of the recalculated Family Living Wage Estimates from 2008 in line with inflation trends, the actual food poverty threshold should have been at least P90, accounting for other factors that affect the family expenses.

“We broke down the Family Living Wage Estimate in 2008. We broke it down, itemized it using 'yung expenditure pattern ng poorest, I think 50%, Filipino families… at dinivide namin yung family living wage according to 'yung mga expenditure items ng mga families. So may [one-third], kasi makalahati for food, maybe 10% to 15% for rent, another maybe 10% for transportation, et cetera. Nung binreakdown namin 'yung family living wage inflated to current prices according to the current consumption basket… para ma-capture 'yung spending pattern ng poorest Filipinos, nalabas na more or less P90 per person per day 'yung kakailanganin from that family living wage,”  Africa said.

(We broke down the Family Living Wage Estimate in 2008. We broke it down, itemized it using the expenditure pattern of the poorest, I think 50%, Filipino families… and divided the family living wage according to the expenditure items of the families. So there’s [one-third], because it gets halved for food, maybe 10% to 15 % for rent, another maybe 10% for transportation, et cetera. When we broke down the family living wage inflated to current prices according to the current consumption basket… to capture the spending pattern of the poorest Filipinos, it comes out to more or less P90 per person per needed from the family living wage.)

Africa said the PSA has "a very mechanical way" of computing the poverty threshold.

"May two-step problem 'yung poverty increase ng government. The first step, kailangan talaga taasan 'yung food poverty threshold na more reasonable figure. [The government’s poverty increase has a two-step problem. First, they really need to increase the food poverty threshold to a more reasonable figure.] And actually, secondly, they should stop the method [of] mechanically multiplying it by a multiplier,” he said.

Africa urged the NEDA board to factor in actual prices for non-food needs and survey other expenses such as rent, utilities, transportation, and education to gather a “more realistic” food poverty figure.

“Definitely, hindi lang yung food poverty threshold ang tataas. [Definitely, not only the food poverty threshold would increase.] Even the poverty threshold will be much more beyond 91 pesos,” he continued.

Least cost of goods

PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa also said in an interview with GMA News Online that the current computation was based on the least cost of goods, which Africa said contributed to the "unrealistic" final number.

“Ang problema, the ordinary people, won't necessarily have access to the least cost. Ang normal naman, pupunta sa pinakamalapit na palengke. Eh, what if pupunta sa palengke na hindi least cost, na mas mahal yung items na yan? So, that's one underestimation creeping into it, yung least cost method nila… Dapat may allowance for a lot of places, for a lot of people na di maa-access 'yun,” Africa said.

(The problem is that ordinary people won’t necessarily have access to the least cost. The normal thing to do is to go to the nearest market. What if that market is not least-cost, and are more expensive? So that’s one underestimation creeping into it, their least-cost method… They should have allowance for a lot of places, for a lot of people who cannot access that.)

Another issue, Africa said, is that variety in the food menu was lacking in the computation.

“Kulang [din] sa variety… once you have a profile of certain na mga food needs, di na pwede repetitive. Part naman ng quality of life din naman actually na dapat may variety dito sa food. So I think the least cost method and the lack of variety, nacocompromise talaga yung pagcompute ng food poverty threshold,” he added.

(It [also] lacks variety… Once you have a profile of certain food needs, it can’t be repetitive. Variety of food is also part of the quality of life. So, I think the least cost method and the lack of variety actually comprises the computation of the food poverty threshold.)

Mapa, however, said that the amount was also based on the lowest cost of a breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu crafted by a nutritionist.

Complicated

Despite this, Africa admitted that calculating the food poverty threshold is a complicated process due to the number of families, regions, different costs, and varied eating habits.

the IBON official suggested the removal of the P64 food threshold and considering more realistic spending patterns and food rates for Filipino families.

“It should at the very least be P90, pero malay din natin. If it's not least-cost, if it is more variety, na makalagpas P90 [It should at the very least be P90, but we never know. If it’s not least-cost, if there should be more, it could be more than P90]… but at least it's based on actual assistance, in current conditions, current eating habits, and also current costs ng pagkain sa mga region, [of food in the regions],” he said.

'Due for revisit'

Balicasan, in the hearing, agreed that the threshold was bound for a revisit despite their current consumption basket being 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 poverty threshold of ours is due for revisit  since it’s been so long, it was set more than a decade before.] I think, the changes in the economy warrant a revisit already of the threshold," he said.

Despite this, the Department of Trade and Industry backed the threshold and released a list of food ideas that would allow for a P64-per-day budget.

The list included canned sardines, pandesal, instant noodles and three-in-one coffee. — BM, GMA Integrated News