We tried to fit our Noche Buena shopping within DTI's P500 budget—here's how it went

Is P500 enough to buy a family of four a complete Noche Buena meal, as Department of Trade and Industry secretary Cristina Roque said?  

In an interview with DZMM Teleradyo on Nov. 27, Roque said a budget of P500 could buy a family of four a variety of Christmas Eve meals. 

According to her, this was made possible because of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s mandated price freeze of all basic necessities and prime commodities until the end of the year due to the entire country being under a state of calamity. 

The secretary admitted the budget would depend on a number of factors, including the number of people sharing the meal, and the specific food they want to eat. 

"[Sa] P500, makakabili na kayo ng ham, makakagawa ka na ng macaroni salad, makakagawa ka na ng spaghetti—depende kung ano gusto mong ihain, kung ilan ang taong kakain," Roque said. 

She later specified in a press briefing on Nov. 28 the different dishes a Filipino family could make on just P500. 

For a family of four, the secretary gave three menu options.

Christmas ham with spaghetti and macaroni salad, for a total of P400.95:

• Christmas ham — P170
• Spaghetti noodles — P30
• Spaghetti sauce — P48.50
• Macaroni pasta — P40.95
• Mayonnaise — P55
• Cheese — 56.50

If the family wanted to replace the macaroni salad with fruit salad, but add corned beef and luncheon meat, the total would be P446.50:

• Fruit cocktail — P61.75
• All-purpose cream — P36.50
• 10-piece Pinoy pan de sal —P27.75
• 1 can corned beef — P31
• 1 can luncheon meat — P41

Without the canned goods, and just the Christmas ham, spaghetti, pan de sal, and fruit salad, the total would be just P374.50. 

"Ang consumers natin, kailangan maging vigilant. Alam din nila dapat kung magkano 'yung presyo ng mga bilihin. Ang best sa kanila ay mag-check sa website at sa social media ng DTI. Nakapaskil doon yung presyo ng mga Noche Buena items," Roque said. 

She mentioned that the list was also on display at grocery stores and supermarkets. 

When asked for her comment on Nov. 28 regarding DTI's Noche Buena budget, Presidential Communications secretary Claire Castro laughed, "Meron namang murang ham."

She declined to give a more complete comment as Roque was scheduled to give her own press briefing soon after Castro's. 

The press secretary added, however, "Mas maliwanag po niya [mapapaliwanag] kung paano niya macocompute 'yung pagbili ng ham sa halagang P500. Baka dalawa nga po mabili sa ganu'n."

Solons and the public react

“Sa anong planeta kasya 'yung P500 para sa Noche Buena ng pamilyang Pilipino?” asked Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon on Nov. 28. The congressman added DTI's cited budget is not realistic for families preparing a proper Noche Buena. 

“Sa presyo ng bilihin ngayon, kahit simpleng spaghetti at keso, hindi na kasya sa P500 na sinasabi ng DTI secretary — lalo na kung hindi lang isa ang kakain sa pamilya," continued Ridon. 

In a statement, ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio called the DTI's suggested Noche Buena budget “a slap in the face to every working Filipino. 

“The DTI's statement is not just tone-deaf; it is a deliberate attempt to normalize poverty and gaslight the Filipino people into accepting deprivation while the corrupt elite feast on public funds," Tinio said.

Representatives of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas suggested government officials try shopping for their own Noche Buena feasts with just P500 to see if they would still think it was enough of a budget. 

“Kung talagang kaya ng DTI at ng first family ang P500 Noche Buena, ipakita nila at sila ang unang gumawa,” KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos said. 

The farmers' group added that DTI officials must be "on another planet" since they seemed out of touch with the current market prices. They said many farming families could not even afford to celebrate the holidays properly due to rising prices of goods. 

An experiment

PhilSTAR L!fe wanted to see if we could flex our diskarte muscles. We went to a supermarket to check if DTI's budget was applicable anywhere. Our planned Noche Buena meal would consist of Christmas ham, spaghetti, and macaroni salad. Carefully, we compared prices and hunted through the shelves for the cheapest brands.

These are what we found:

Christmas ham

• P136.50 for a 200g pack of six thin slices. (The whole balls of ham ranged in price from P244 to P929.)

Spaghetti

• 1 head of garlic — P10.80
• 2 onions (the grocery wouldn't let us break up the pack) — P33.00
• 1/4 kilo ground pork — P104.70
• Spaghetti noodles —43.00
• Sweet spaghetti sauce — P49.00
• 45g Cheese — P16.50

Macaroni salad

• Elbow pasta — P66.00
• Pineapple tidbits — P29.25
• Mayonnaise — P52.80
• Raisins — P25.95
• Condensed milk — P43.65
• Pickle relish —P34.25
• 45g Cheese — P16.50
• 1/4 kilo Chicken recado pieces — P40.80

For a basic Noche Buena meal for a family of four, we spent P702.70. We overshot the DTI budget by P202.70. Granted, some of these ingredients were probably not part of DTI's list of price-frozen basic necessities and prime commodities.

When we asked the supermarket's customer service for a copy of the list, they did not have one. Neither was the list on DTI's website, as of writing.