The President talked about the decreased number of poor based on the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) pegging the number of poor at 26%. According to Rep. Colmenares, this is based on a poverty threshold of P58 pesos per day.
This is to say that for matuwid na daan, a Filipino can live on P58 pesos per day.
That’s P58 pesos for food and non-food expenses, including electricity, water and housing, transport expenses, and sending one’s children to school.
P58 pesos!
A more honest assessment would peg the poverty threshold at P125 per day per person. This of course would mean that 66% of Filipinos are actually poor – very far from the 26% that the government likes to celebrate.
Now consider: P125 per day per person is not much given the rising cost of goods and the lack of free basic services. IBON Philippines pegs the threshold at least at P181 per person per day. That of course is not a number that the government wants to hear.
Being in denial about the number of poor after all is part of matuwid na daan’s delusions.