Inflation hits 9.2% for Bacolod’s lowest-income households

BACOLOD CITY — Inflation for the bottom 30% of income households climbed to 9.2% in Bacolod City and 6.7% in Negros Occidental in September 2026, as food and housing-related prices rose faster.

The increases put greater pressure on families with the least income, whose budgets must cover food, utilities, and transport before other needs. Their September inflation rates exceeded the corresponding rates for all households in both areas.

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Negros Occidental office released the figures on Oct. 15, with the province and Bacolod reported separately.

In Negros Occidental, inflation for the bottom 30% rose from 4.4% in August to 6.7% in September, compared with 1.0% in September 2025.

Food and nonalcoholic beverages inflation for this group accelerated to 5.3% from 2.1%, making it one of the main drivers of the increase.

Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels inflation also rose, reaching 9.1% from 5.6%.

The province’s January–September inflation rate for low-income households stood at 2.5%.

In Bacolod, inflation for the bottom 30% increased to 9.2% from 8.7% in August, reversing the negative 0.3% recorded in September 2025.

Food and nonalcoholic beverages inflation in the city reached 9.2% from 8.3%, while housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels edged up to 10.8% from 10.7%.

Transport inflation for the same income group increased to 9.9% from 8.9%, with the PSA identifying food and transport as the two leading contributors in its summary report.

Bacolod’s January–September inflation rate for the bottom 30% stood at 5.3%.

The September readings were the highest so far in 2026 for low-income households in both areas, based on the PSA’s monthly series.

Across the Negros Island Region, inflation for the bottom 30% reached 7.5%, up from 5.6% in August and 0.1% in September 2025, with a January–September rate of 3.6%.

Nationally, inflation for this income group rose to 9.0% from 8.2% in August, compared with negative 0.2% a year earlier, bringing the January–September rate to 6.5%.

The broader inflation report also showed faster price increases among all income households in Negros Occidental, where inflation rose to 6.4% from 4.8% in August and 1.4% in September 2025.

The province’s all-household inflation rate for January–September stood at 3.1%.

Food and nonalcoholic beverages inflation for all households in the province increased to 4.6% from 2.3%, while food alone rose to 4.7% from 2.0%.

Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels inflation reached 8.0% from 5.4%, with the electricity, gas, and other fuels subgroup accelerating to 12.5% from 7.9%.

Transport inflation increased to 9.6% from 9.0%, while the operation of personal transport equipment subgroup rose to 35.5% from 30.5%.

In Bacolod, inflation for all income households rose to 8.4% from 7.8% in August and 1.1% in September 2025, with a January–September rate of 5.4%.

The city’s food and nonalcoholic beverages inflation increased to 6.8% from 5.9%, while food alone reached 6.9% from 5.9%.

Transport inflation climbed to 18.2% from 15.8%, with the operation of personal transport equipment subgroup rising to 44.9% from 36.8%.

Education services inflation in Bacolod moved to negative 4.9% from negative 6.3%, indicating a smaller year-on-year price decline.

For all income households, September inflation stood at 6.9% in the Negros Island Region and 7.2% nationwide.

The two PSA releases use differing labels for some commodity contribution shares, distinguishing them inconsistently from shares in the increase in inflation.

The PSA’s consumer price index measures changes in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services, using 2018 as the base year set at 100.

The bottom-30% index uses the same price collection and computation process as the all-household index, but has a separate basket and spending weights.

Inflation compares prices with the same period a year earlier, so a lower positive rate means prices are still rising, only more slowly.

A negative rate means prices fell from a year earlier.

Data appendix — Area comparisons and monthly inflation

All rates are percentages. The first four rate columns below refer to bottom-30% income households. The final column covers all income households.

Monthly inflation in 2026

All-household comparisons: Negros Occidental — September 2025, 1.4%, August 2026, 4.8%, January–September 2026, 3.1%. Bacolod — September 2025, 1.1%, August 2026, 7.8%, January–September 2026, 5.4%.

Data appendix — Bottom 30% historical inflation

Source: summary report, Table 2. All entries are percentages. B = Bacolod City, N = Negros Occidental. The source’s r markers are retained. A dash means no figure was supplied.

Figures 1 and 2 reproduce the September 2025–September 2026 portion of this series. April 2026 Bacolod and

July 2025 Negros Occidental carry r markers in Table 2.

Data appendix — Negros Occidental commodity inflation

All income households. Figures are year-on-year rates. Subgroups are listed separately from the major commodity groups.

Selected subgroups

Data appendix — Bacolod City commodity inflation

All income households. Figures are year-on-year rates. Subgroups are listed separately from the major commodity groups.

Selected subgroups

Data appendix — Bottom 30% commodity rates

Year-on-year inflation rates for the commodity groups identified in the summary and presentation.

Contribution figures requiring label clarification

The written release describes 75.5% and 20.3% for Negros Occidental, and 80.7% and 13.7% for Bacolod, under contributors to headline inflation. Slides 19 and 36 label the same values as shares to the uptrend in inflation. These measures are not interchangeable. PSA clarification is needed before assigning a definitive interpretation.

Data appendix — All-household contribution figures

Values and labels below follow the presentation. Percent share and share to uptrend are retained as distinct labels, without assuming they have the same denominator.

Rankings in the presentation: Negros Occidental all-household drivers — food and nonalcoholic beverages first, housing and utilities second, transport third. Bacolod all-household drivers — food and nonalcoholic beverages first, transport second. The contributor slides add education services in third place for Bacolod.

For the bottom 30%, the driver slides rank food and nonalcoholic beverages first and housing and utilities second in both areas. The contributor slides rank food first and housing second in Negros Occidental, and food first and transport second in Bacolod.

Data appendix — Definitions and source record

The following notes preserve the definitions, publication details, and access information supplied with the reports.

The consumer price index measures the change in average retail prices of a fixed household basket of goods and services. The base year is 2018, with the index set at 100.

Inflation is the year-on-year percentage change in the CPI. Positive inflation means average prices rose from a year earlier. Negative inflation, or deflation, means average prices fell. A lower positive rate means slower price increases, not falling prices.

The bottom-30% CPI measures price changes for commodities commonly purchased by the lowest-income 30% of households. It uses the same collection and calculation process as the all-household CPI, but a separate market basket and weights.

Purchasing power of the peso measures the real value of the peso relative to the base period. Neither report supplies a numerical purchasing-power estimate.

Year-to-date figures are presented as January–September 2026 rates. The presentation defines them as the year-on-year change in average CPI for January–September 2026 versus January–September 2025. Table A’s footnote instead refers to September 2026 versus September 2025, which does not describe a year-to-date period.

Summary report: released Oct. 15, 2026, reference PR2026-10-1845-180, PSA Negros Occidental Provincial Statistical Office. Approved for release by John F. Campomanes, Chief Statistical Specialist. Production initials: DSB/LMG/SAT.

Presentation: Negros Occidental and Bacolod City Inflation Report, September 2026, by Ligaya M. Gillesania, Statistical Analyst, Negros Occidental Provincial Statistics Office. Dated Oct. 15, 2026, 3 p.m.

Data source: PSA Retail Price Survey of Selected Commodities for the Generation of Consumer Price Index. Contact: (034) 435-5385, negrosoccidental@psa.gov.ph, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines 6100. Regional site: https://rssonir.psa.gov.ph/.

PSA materials: psa.gov.ph, openstat.psa.gov.ph, https://psa.gov.ph/price-indices/bottom-30/index, and https://psa.gov.ph/price-indices/cpi-ir. Social accounts: @PSAgovph, https://twitter.com/PSAgovph, and https://www.facebook.com/PSAgovph. Briefing evaluation link: https://forms.gle/tqLDnQrLWYANatpC8.