FNRI says PSA set NEDA's P64 per day 'food poor' threshold

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) on Thursday pointed their fingers to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in the setting of the amount on National Economic Development Authority's P64-a-day per person "food poor" threshold.

During the continuation of the Senate plenary deliberations on the proposed 2025 national budget plan, Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri, who defended the FNRI's budget, explained that the agency only provided the "formula on the nutritional value of the food products that will give enough nutrition per day."

"The amount of money, that was the P60 plus pesos, hindi galing sa kanila po...Yung amount PSA na po ang naglagay ng amount, pero ang nutritional formula [ay] sa kanila," Zubiri said.

Zubiri was responding to the question of Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, who asked, "Is the FNRI the source of the figure of NEDA when NEDA reached the figure of around P64 per day?"

During the Senate finance committee budget deliberations in August, NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said a monthly food threshold for a family of five is 9,581 pesos.

This means, individuals who spend P64 below for three meals a day are considered "food poor."

Balisacan said it was the Department of Health and the FNRI that determined the basket and what constitutes a reasonable food basket that could meet the nutritional particularly calorie requirement.

The Philippine Statistics Authority has earlier admitted that the P64 “food poor” threshold was insufficient to meet nutritional or dietary requirements in a day.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) slammed the threshold as unrealistic as it justifies low wages and allows the government to evade its responsibility to provide cash incentives to the poor.

Meanwhile, development organization IBON Foundation has called for a more realistic food poverty threshold. — BAP, GMA Integrated News