The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that spending only P64 on food per day does not classify one as food poor. But how was this threshold determined, and what's on the menu for this budget-friendly diet?

According to the PSA, sticking to a menu plan within this budget is key to meeting essential nutrition needs without breaking the bank. Here's a look at what your daily meals could consist of:

For breakfast, one can enjoy scrambled eggs, boiled rice or rice-corn mix, and coffee with milk. 

At lunchtime, boiled monggo with malunggay and dried dilis paired with rice or rice-corn mix, along with a banana, is recommended. 

For dinner, options include fried fish or boiled pork, a vegetable dish, and more rice or rice-corn mix. 

Additionally, one can indulge in bread or boiled root crops as a snack.

In a briefing on the 2023 full-year poverty statistics on Thursday, Aug. 15, PSA National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa explained that the P64 threshold for a family of five was made to account for the typical food items that require certain nutrients needed by Filipinos.

“Ang pag-set up kasi natin ng food thresholds at yung poverty threshold, ito yung minimum basic needs [The setup of food thresholds and the poverty threshold reflects the minimum basic needs],” Mapa explained.

“Yun yung pag-process, least cost. Una, ang process nito ay magkaroon muna tayo menu. Ano ba yung typical na pwedeng makapagproduce ng energy, protein, calcium [In processing, we use the least cost, we start with a menu. What are the typical items that can provide energy, protein, and calcium],” he added.

Mapa clarified, however, that this food threshold is only the average at the national level, noting that a specific food threshold was set up for each region because of the varying food bundles that are mostly used in certain regions.

The PSA said that Region 3 has the highest food threshold at P11,086, meaning that each family member living in this area should spend P71 on food per day to be considered as non-food poor.

It was followed by Region 4-A at P11,002, National Capital Region (NCR) at P10,972, Region 7 at P10,020, and Region 1 at P9,955.

The P64 basic food requirement is also already higher compared to the international comparison of poverty lines, Mapa said.

“Yung pinakamababa, is the $2.15 per person per day in purchasing power parity, ah. Hindi yung converted to. Ang equivalent ang equivalent nito in peso term ay mga P54 per day. So, we are actually higher on the lower World Bank na computation,” he said.

[The lowest is $2.15 per person per day in purchasing power parity. It’s not just converted; its equivalent in peso terms is about P54 per day. So, we are actually higher than the lower computation from the World Bank.]

The PSA chief said that the government will adjust the food threshold by next year as the supposed review in 2021 was delayed due to the pandemic.

On the other hand, the poverty threshold, which accounts for food and non-food items, was recorded at P13,873 per month for a family of five. NCR had the largest threshold at P16,046.

Meanwhile, out of the 18 regions, 11 recorded significant decreases in poverty incidence among families in 2023 from 2021 with Caraga having the most improvement with 14.9 percent in 2023 from 25.9 percent in 2021.