Bacolod inflation hits 8.7% as poorest households absorb 9.6%

BACOLOD CITY — Consumer prices rose faster in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental in October 2026, with the city’s poorest households absorbing inflation of 9.6 percent as gasoline and food grew costlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

Headline inflation for all income households reached 8.7 percent in Bacolod City and 6.7 percent in Negros Occidental, the highest monthly readings for both areas this year.

The figures matter because the increases are concentrated in food, fuel, fares, and shelter, which families cannot postpone, and because households in the bottom 30 percent of the income ladder are facing faster price increases than everyone else.

A basket of goods that cost a poor Bacolod household PHP 100 in October 2025 now costs about PHP 109.60, a year after the same income group recorded inflation of -0.4 percent.

The data are contained in the October 2026 inflation report of Supervising Statistical Specialist Diesah S. Biaoco, dated Nov. 12, and in a press release approved by Chief Statistical Specialist John F. Campomanes of the PSA Negros Occidental Provincial Statistical Office.

Bacolod City’s all-income rate exceeded the national rate of 7.8 percent and the Negros Island Region’s 7.2 percent, while Negros Occidental stayed below both.

Figure 1. Inflation rates, October 2026 (in percent)

In Negros Occidental, inflation for all income households rose to 6.7 percent from 6.4 percent in September 2026 and 0.5 percent in October 2025.

The province’s average inflation from January to October stood at 3.4 percent.

Monthly rates in the province were 0.7 percent in January, 0.3 percent in February, 0.0 percent in March, 3.2 percent in April, 4.2 percent in May, 3.5 percent in June, 4.6 percent in July, 4.8 percent in August, and 6.4 percent in September.

Figure 2. Monthly inflation, all income households, January to October 2026 (in percent)

The PSA listed food and non-alcoholic beverages as the first main driver of the province’s faster inflation, at 4.9 percent with a 32.2 percent share, as the food index rose to 5.0 percent from 4.7 percent.

Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels followed at 8.4 percent with a 19.7 percent share, as actual rentals paid by tenants for their main residence rose 6.2 percent from 4.9 percent.

Transport was third at 11.5 percent with a 14.7 percent share, as gasoline inflation jumped to 43.1 percent from 32.2 percent.

Measured by share to the uptrend, transport led at 37.7 percent, with its index rising to 11.5 percent from 9.6 percent.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 32.6 percent of the uptrend, moving to 4.9 percent from 4.6 percent, while housing and utilities accounted for 16.6 percent, moving to 8.4 percent from 8.0 percent.

Three other commodity groups in the province posted higher inflation: clothing and footwear at 8.1 percent from 8.0 percent; furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance at 14.2 percent from 13.7 percent; and information and communication at 4.5 percent from 3.4 percent.

Two groups slowed: alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 10.5 percent from 10.6 percent, and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services at 5.5 percent from 6.0 percent.

Rates were unchanged for health at 11.2 percent, recreation, sport, and culture at 13.1 percent, education services at -3.1 percent, restaurants and accommodation services at 3.9 percent, and financial services at 0.0 percent.

For the bottom 30 percent income households in Negros Occidental, inflation rose to 6.9 percent from 6.7 percent in September, against -0.3 percent in October 2025.

That is the group’s highest rate since October 2023, when it stood at 7.6 percent, based on the PSA’s historical table.

The group’s year-to-date average was 3.0 percent, after monthly rates of 0.1 percent in January, -0.1 percent in February, -1.4 percent in March, 2.2 percent in April, 3.4 percent in May, 3.0 percent in June, and 4.4 percent in both July and August.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages drove the increase for the province’s poorest households, rising to 5.5 percent from 5.3 percent and contributing 44.7 percent to their inflation.

Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels rose to 9.4 percent from 9.1 percent for the same households, contributing 17.0 percent.

The PSA also named transport, food and non-alcoholic beverages, and housing and utilities as the top three contributors for the income group.

In Bacolod City, inflation for all income households climbed to 8.7 percent from 8.4 percent in September and 1.2 percent in October 2025.

The city’s January-to-October average was 5.8 percent, after monthly rates of 1.1 percent in January, 0.1 percent in February, 3.4 percent in March, 6.6 percent in April, 7.0 percent in May, 7.1 percent in June, 7.3 percent in July, and 7.8 percent in August.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages posted 7.0 percent inflation in the city with a 26.6 percent share, as the food index edged up to 7.0 percent from 6.9 percent.

Transport inflation in Bacolod reached 21.9 percent with a 25.8 percent share, as gasoline inflation rose to 48.3 percent from 41.3 percent.

Transport alone accounted for 78.2 percent of the city’s uptrend, rising to 21.9 percent from 18.2 percent, while food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 16.0 percent, rising to 7.0 percent from 6.8 percent.

Inflation also rose in Bacolod for furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance at 9.9 percent from 9.6 percent, health at 3.8 percent from 3.7 percent, and personal care and miscellaneous goods and services at 4.7 percent from 4.5 percent.

Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels was the only group to slow in the city, at 8.4 percent from 9.0 percent.

Rates were unchanged for alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 8.3 percent, clothing and footwear at 10.3 percent, information and communication at 2.7 percent, recreation, sport, and culture at 5.2 percent, education services at -4.9 percent, restaurants and accommodation services at 12.4 percent, and financial services at 0.0 percent.

For Bacolod’s bottom 30 percent income households, inflation moved to 9.6 percent from 9.2 percent in September, against -0.4 percent in October 2025.

The rate matches the 9.6 percent recorded in May 2023 and is the highest since then, according to the PSA table.

The group’s year-to-date average was 5.7 percent, after monthly rates of 0.4 percent in January, -0.5 percent in February, 1.9 percent in March, a revised 5.2 percent in April, 7.2 percent in May, 7.8 percent in June, 8.2 percent in July, and 8.7 percent in August.

Figure 3. Inflation for bottom 30% income households, October 2025 to October 2026 (in percent)

Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose to 9.4 percent from 9.2 percent for these households, contributing 46.6 percent to their inflation and 23.8 percent to the uptrend.

Transport rose to 13.8 percent from 9.9 percent, contributing 14.0 percent to their inflation and 71.0 percent to the uptrend.

Nationwide, inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households was 9.5 percent in October, from 9.0 percent in September and -0.4 percent a year earlier, with a year-to-date average of 6.8 percent.

The Negros Island Region posted 7.8 percent for the same group, from 7.5 percent in September and -0.7 percent in October 2025, with a year-to-date average of 4.1 percent.

October readings for the poorest households in earlier years were 6.0 percent in Bacolod and 7.8 percent in Negros Occidental in 2022, 8.4 percent and 7.6 percent in 2023, and 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent in 2024.

The PSA compiles a separate consumer price index for the bottom 30 percent income households, using its own market basket and weights, with 2018 as the base year.

The local figures track a national surge. The countrywide October print of 7.8 percent, against 7.2 percent in September, was the fastest since February 2023.

That surge had its roots in pump prices and fares, and the national transport reading of 20.1 percent compared with 14.6 percent in September.

Agence France-Presse has linked the fuel spike to the conflict in the Middle East and to a peso at record lows, a combination that weighs on a country that imports its oil.

At 5.6 percent, the 10-month national average sits outside the 2 percent to 4 percent band that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas targets.

A peso now buys what 72 centavos bought in 2018, according to national PSA figures.

Wages are adjusting more slowly than some prices. Wage Order No. 30 of the Western Visayas wage board, which covers Negros Occidental and Bacolod City, would set daily pay floors of PHP 565 for farm work, against PHP 520 previously, and PHP 590 at non-farm firms employing more than 10 people, against PHP 550, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported on Oct. 27.

Those adjustments work out to about 8.7 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.

The size of the increase has not satisfied organized labor in the province, the newspaper reported.