THE BUCK DOES NOT STOP AT ANYBODY’s DOORSTEP

By: Mario G. Zavalla

Brought to you by the FUTURIST | August 17, 2024

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An online article I read published by Philstar Global ?last August 14 jolted me for? almost a minute. Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) affirmed the use of more than a decade-old threshold or limit usually expressed in monetary value which is used to gauge how many in the country of about 114 million people belong to the group experiencing food poverty during a certain period. As far as I know, this is one of the metrics used by development planners to formulate policies directed toward this sector of the Philippine society.

During the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC) briefing at the Senate on Tuesday, Senator Nancy Binay asked National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) Secretary, ?Arsenio Balisacan, what the threshold is for food poverty.?

Secretary Balisacan said that “accounting for inflation, the threshold?is?P64 a day for three meals, or roughly P21.3 per meal per person. The amount has already increased since 2021, which was then at P55 a day.”?This information was provided during the DBCC’s briefing at the Senate on Tuesday which made Senator Grace Poe to say, and I quote, “…When you compute poverty thresholds with an old number which is not, obviously not workable anymore, P20 per meal, hindi totoo yung poverty forecast niyo (your poverty forecast is not true)….” To this, Secretary Balisacan replied that it was not NEDA that determined that basket” which probably refers to selected food items in a basket of food having certain nutritional values. He added, “ the computation for the basket was from the recommended food items from the Department of Health and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute. NEDA merely gave the numbers.”

Seriously, I don’t know how much it will cost and how long it will take to update this important data but …..and who knows what else the good Secretary forgot to mention. This information, obviously unknown to our lawmakers until the revelation made by Secretary Balisacan, reflects very clearly ?the prevailing situation in the country today in terms of economic governance….a very sad situation indeed. If a very strategic document like the Philippine Development Plan can be crafted, approved and implemented with serious flaws, there is only one conclusion I can think of….the buck does not stop at anybody’s doorstep. Sigh.....

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