The country's 0.9 percent inflation rate is meaningless to the 49 percent of Filipinos who told a recent survey that they are poor, according to ACT Teachers' Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio.

Tinio dismissed the government's celebration over the inflation rate—the lowest monthly rate since July 2024—and said it meant nothing if many Filipinos still cannot afford the P20 per kilo rice that the President promised.

He said the P20 per kilo rice is not accessible to the majority of the public as Kadiwa stores only serve limited areas. There are 42,046 barangays nationwide, and the government is planning to establish only 1,500 sites in the next three years.

He said the inflation figures actually do not reflect the reality of ordinary Filipinos, who continue to struggle with high prices of basic commodities, low wages, and widespread unemployment.

"Habang nagmamalaki ang administrasyong Marcos Jr. sa kanilang statistical achievements, ang katotohanan ay lubog pa rin sa kahirapan ang majority ng mga Pilipino (While the Marcos administration boasts of its statistical achievements, the reality is that majority of Filipinos still sink into poverty)," Tinio said.

"Nananatiling mataas ang presyo ng bigas, gulay, isda, karne, kuryente, tubig, at upa sa bahay kahit pa sabihing bumaba ang inflation rate (Prices of rice, vegetables, meat, electricity, water and rent remain high although inflation rate is lower)," he added.

Those were the points that Tinio pointed out during his privilege speech on Monday, Aug. 4, at the House plenary as part of his "State of Nothing Address" or his own spin on the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA).

There, he also highlighted that despite the government's claims, fundamental problems remain unaddressed, such as high prices of goods, widespread poverty, unemployment, low wages, landlessness among farmers, severe flooding, human rights violations, foreign domination, government corruption, and lack of accountability.

Tinio called for genuine solutions including free land distribution to farmers, implementation of true agricultural reform, higher palay prices, dismantling of cartels and hoarders manipulating food prices, scrapping the Rice Liberalization Law, and restoring rice self-sufficiency as a national target instead of the Philippines' current status as the world's largest rice importer.