Beyond the PHP 500 Noche Buena

By Herbert Vego

Trade Secretary Maria Cristina Aldeguer-Roque could have avoided brickbats in the media had she been more accurate about “a family of four” celebrating the Noche Buena on a budget of PHP 500.

Shouldn’t she have said “poor family of four” instead?

But she made the impression that a housekeeper could buy spaghetti noodles, sauce, all-purpose cream, macaroni salad, and ham for the said amount.

At this time, when some of the poor don’t even eat three times a day, they can’t even think of waking up at midnight of Christmas Eve to eat the “fourth meal.”

Anyway, I personally visited a public market to see for myself what PHP 500 could buy. I did so for a half-kilo of the cheapest ham worth PHP 200; ready-to-eat spaghetti for four, PHP 200; the cheapest loaf bread, PHP 50; and a liter of soft drink, another PHP 50.

That budget could have bought an abundant “feast” for four people four years ago.

However, making both ends meet today probably means doubling what we earned four years ago.

Onion merchants cite the slide in the value of our peso vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar as the reason why a kilo of onions, price-tagged PHP 300, costs more than pork.

The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar today is around PHP 59.

Alas, while that exchange rate could be favorable to Philippine households receiving dollars, it could only be for a short time; all local prices would rise as a result.

No wonder we now lag behind our target growth rate of 6.5%, according to the Makati Business Club. As of October 2025, the Philippine economy had grown by only 4.0%, which is lower than the 5.5% recorded in the second quarter.

Hence, only the most optimistic believe that we could still catch up with the 6.5% growth target by the end of December with a massive influx of foreign money from our skilled and unskilled laborers abroad.

Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done in a country saddled with exploding population growth. As of the 2024 census by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), our population had expanded to 112,729,484.

It is estimated to have hit 118 million by now.

Most poor Filipino parents wallow in the mistaken notion that the more babies they make, the more they contribute to productivity. This belief is especially prevalent among farmers who mistakenly expect their children to take over farm work, only to be disappointed.

Ironically, this country is supposedly rich in agricultural resources, such as rice, sugarcane, pineapples, bananas, and coconuts. Our seas throb with fishes.

Slowly but surely, fortunately, our entrepreneurs are learning to exploit our delicious fruits through export. The Guimaras mango, for example, has found a huge export market in Australia. Dried ripe mangoes, processed in Cebu, are available in duty-free airport shops worldwide.

However, we have mishandled our environmental assets. Due to illegal logging and upland urbanization, the country has lost much of its forest cover. According to the Philippine Forestry Statistics, we only have an estimated total forest cover of 7.22 million hectares or 24.07% of the country’s land mass, which is way below the 17.8 million hectares we had in 1934.

A better alternative would have been to strike a balance between income and consumption. An ideal family must only beget as many children as they can feed, clothe, and send to school. Failure to do this would condemn future generations to a vicious cycle of poverty.

We have creative professionals in the arts and sciences—say painting, writing, sculpting, cooking, gardening, sewing, playing instruments, dancing, singing, nursing, caregiving, among others—but there’s not enough local environment for them to thrive in.

Hence, they migrate abroad for a decent income.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country received USD 34.49 billion in foreign remittances in 2024—a modest improvement from USD 30 billion in 2019.

Oh well, let us draw comfort from the Bible: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

-oOo-

MORE Power reduces rates again

Kudos to MORE Power—Iloilo City’s distribution utility—for another reduction in billing rates for this Christmas month. The residential rate has gone down to PHP 11.3477 per kilowatt-hour, marking a PHP 0.5081 decrease from last month.

The commercial rate has gone down from PHP 11.17 to PHP 10.66 per kWh. This should help the business sector keep prices of goods and services lower.

As told by MORE Power chief operating officer Joe-Mel Zaporteza to MORE Power press officer Angel Tan on the radio-TV program “MORE Power at Your Service,” it’s mainly due to the stability of power supply and the reduction of system loss.