Netizens fume at DTI official’s statement that 1K ‘good’ for family Noche Buena
Netizens weren’t feeling too jolly at the suggestion made by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ruth Castelo that P1,000 is “good” for a Noche Buena meal for a family of four or five members.
In a TV Patrol news report about DTI’s price monitoring of Noche Buena food items on Friday, December 2, Castelo said that by their own computation, P1,000 would suffice to feed a family of 4 or 5 members for Noche Buena.
“For a family of 4 or 5 kasya na rin. Nag-compute tayo. Kahit papaano P1,000 will be good for one family na merong Noche Buena products na ilalagay sa lamesa,” she said.
DTI also assured that there will be no price increases of basic commodities up to January 2024. Manufacturers’ petition for price increases in 50 basic commodities will be considered only early next year.
“After New Year, mga early next year or early in the first quarter, saka tayo gagalaw ng presyo para rin this way nakaalalay tayo sa consumers na ang basic necessities and prime commodities di pa muna gagalaw dahil ang Noche Buena products gumalaw na,” said Castelo.
So, basically, hard-working Filipinos will get a holiday reprieve from rising food prices, but will have to face the music when the new year comes.
TV Patrol reporter Alvin Elchico tried buying Noche Buena items without going over P1,000. He purchased two small cans of fruit cocktail, two 250-ml packs of all-purpose cream, 200 grams of processed cheese, 250grams of sliced ham, and 250 grams of ground meat. The bill: P613.
Elchico said the money that’s left (P397) could buy (soft) drinks or wine. Elchico must think the viewers of TV Patrol are idiots. Who makes fruit salad without condensed milk? In fact many Pinoys add shredded young coconut meat, too, which retails for P45 per coconut. Also absent in Elchico’s shopping list is the onions, garlic, and bell pepper to sautee the ground meat with for the spaghetti sauce. At nearly P300 a kilo, onions are now being used sparingly in many dishes. Also missing is the pack of hotdogs, because what’s a Pinoy spaghetti without hotdogs, right? And with a measly 250 grams of meat, this Christmas spaghetti won’t be any better than the kind you buy from the neighborhood carinderia. Which is actually the reason behind the outrage of netizens towards Castelo’s statement. Shouldn’t the Christmas spaghetti be a little special? Don’t Pinoys deserve to eat something nice, a little above the ordinary on this day of days?
Netizens dared the DTI Undersecretary and other government officials to practice what they preach. How about the people in the government try spending only P1,000 on their Noche Buena? Could you imagine Undersecretary Castelo and family tucking into a spartan Christmas meal of pear-shaped ham (which is actually scrap pork parts bound into a block using flour), anemic and meat-spare spaghetti, and fruit salad made mostly from canned fruit? That’ll be the day.
Castelo seemed to expect the ordinary Filipino to survive on the bare minimum, on a Christmas, of all days, when we splurge and treat ourselves a little bit. Don’t the Filipinos deserve more than the bare minimum? With price hikes on basic commodities awaiting us in the new year, it’s looking more and more like “subsistence” will be the order of the day for many minimum wage earners.
