P279 for food a day not ‘enough’

GUIMBA, Nueva Ecija – A local radio reporter here literally took head-on the challenge of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) about the latter’s earlier claim that its P279 food budget per day or P93 per meal is “enough” to meet the minimum basic food requirements a day for a family of five like them.

“Hello PSA icha-challenge kita sa P279 na budget mo para sa aming hapunan, almusal, at tanghalian kung magkakasya ang halagang sinasabi mo,” said Leah “Arya Leah” Valdez, of Barangay Subol, a Radyo Natin correspondent here.

Valdez said she and her family made the “PSA P279-Challenge” to determine if the said P279 threshold per day would be sufficient for the three-meal food requirements for a family of five as what the PSA earlier claimed.

She asked, “18.60 na budget kada isang miyembro ng lima-kataong pamilya, kasya nga ba? P279 para sa pagkain sa isang araw sasapat ba? Gaano ba kahirap ang mag-budget?”

Radyo Natin Guimba posted videos of these challenges by Valdez on its Facebook page, which have gone viral so far since it was first posted on August 22.

In her first video, Valdez prepared dinner good for five people: her father and mother, two kids, and a nephew. She cooked eight pieces of “tortang talong” (eggplant omelet) as viand. Its ingredients were bought at a nearby flea market.

Overall, she spent P123 for dinner – eggplant (one bundle, eight pieces) for P20; cooking oil (1/4 liter) at P25; raw egg (2 pieces) at P18; and 1.5 kilos of rice at P60.

For an “economy breakfast”, Valdez said she consumed only P59 after buying six pieces of raw banana (saba) at P20 and three packs of coffee for P39. The bananas were boiled to go along with a hot cup of coffee for her family’s morning food intake.

With P123 and P59 already spent for dinner and breakfast, Valdez’s only budget left to buy for lunch is P97, using PSA’s food threshold of P279 per day for a family of five.

And for the last part, she cooked a “hearty lunch” of nutritious “balatong” or monggo beans for her family and spent P96 in buying the ingredients for the said recipe. “Sa natitirang P97, ang nabili ko ay tatlong supot ng monggo (P36), baboy (P50 pansahog), Magic Sarap (P10) sa kabuuang P96. Ang talbos ng ampalaya, pansit bihon na hinalo sa monggo, pati bawang at sibuyas ay diskarte ko na,” said Valdez.

After completing the three-part food challenge herself, she concluded that the PSA’s estimate of P279 fell “short” of the basic food requirements that a family of five needed to survive for one full day. She said it is “way off the mark and could not meet the real situation on the ground.”

“So, PSA iyung P279 na binadget mo, puwede lang magkasya sa almusal at sa hapunan, pero pagdating sa pananghalian hindi talaga kakayanin dahil ang pananghalian ay diyan kalakasan ang estudyante ko at pamilya ko dahil dyan kailangang busog ang katawan nila basta masarap kahit kulang sa rekado,” said Valdez.