The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By DAISY C. ILAGAN
Trade Secretary Cristina Roque, who made a name in business selling T-shirts and other garment lines, created quite a ruckus recently when she claimed that for 500 pesos, a regular Filipino family can partake of decent food during the coming Noche Buena.
Noche Buena, that long-running tradition of Filipino families sharing the Christmas eve meal together, is currently losing steam due to high food prices and other inflationary pressures besetting the nation.
Secretary Roque’s take is this:
“Kasya ang P500 but it depends on the number of family members. Usually ang family members na kasya itong P500 is mom, dad, and two children,” she told reporters.
(The amount of five hundred pesos is enough, but it depends on the number of family members. Usually, the P500 would be enough for a family of two parents and two kids).
The Secretary based this computation from the price guide of basic goods adopted and monitored by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
From this, she deduced that the most affordable 500g ham sells for P170, 250g spaghetti noodles is at P30, while spaghetti sauce is priced at P48.50.
With this, a resourceful mother can still make macaroni salad with mayonnaise and cheese.
She said ham, salad and pandesal could be an “almost complete” basic Noche Buena meal. Luncheon meat and corned beef may be added as bonus.
Roque observed that sometimes relatives or neighbors would also share food, which could also add other types of food to the table.
The trade secretary’s idea was immediately criticized by lawmakers, with the Kabataan party-list saying, “Huwag nating lokohin ang mga Pilipino na marangal ang paskong gipit. Dapat ang mga korap ang pagtiisin sa P500 noche buena.”
Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon was more direct: “(Sa) anong planeta kasya yung P500 para sa Noche Buena ng pamilyang Pilipino?”
Ridon maintained that “what is more important is for the government to ensure that what people need to celebrate Christmas are affordable.”
Akbayan Party-List Rep. Percival Cendaña, meanwhile, called DTI’s statement an insult to the public, adding P500 would be enough “if you travel back in time.”
He said that the DTI has been insisting on P500 being enough since 2022.
Roque has defenders, too, especially from colleagues in the government.
Undersecretary Claire Castro of the Presidential Communications Office said the idea is feasible because it’s “depende sa diskarte.”
This simple Christmas dinner budget will continue to be debated on until Christmas, as Filipino users of the internet are always on the lookout for topics to nitpick or quarrel about.
This, despite the trade secretary’s clarification that what she meant was just a simple Christmas meal for a family of four — mom, dad, and two children.
The DTI Noche Buena price guide is posted on the DTI website and social media pages.
It includes prices for ham, pasta, sandwich spread, keso de bola, cheese, fruit cocktail, kaong, among many others.