How much does it take to ‘survive’?

Over the past few weeks I’ve written about the rising costs of goods and services. Electricity increased, gas increased, and even basic goods like groceries and the like have increased as well. What was targeted as supposed “tax savings” from the TRAIN Law has turned into nothing of the sort with whatever tiny “savings” people were able to glean from their salaries going full into the rising prices of basic necessities. In some cases this wasn’t even enough to cover the dramatic increases across the board and people found themselves with even less at the end of the month.

For anyone to think, let alone say that the economy is doing well is blatantly missing the point that inflation is at an all-time high and every single Filipino has been having a more difficult time making ends meet. Some families are barely making ends meet and it seems that the rise in costs is only just beginning. How can people manage to get by when there is no corresponding rise in what they earn? It just seems that these days the working class or the masses are the ones consistently having to “tighten their belts” and make do with the little that is available.

Which brings me to the ridiculous announcement of Duterte’s economic managers that a family of five could survive on a mere P10,000 a month and live above the poverty line. Such a laughable statement that most were sure they must have been joking. The sad part is they were not. These so-called “financial wizards” truly believed that a family of five could live on that paltry amount every month. They definitely need to have their heads checked if they think that this is actually do-able.

Anyone who has tried raising a family in the Philippines knows how ludicrous a statement this is. Even the masses that send their children to public schools could not live with ease on this amount. The economists further dug their own graves by providing a breakdown of the P10,000 on a monthly basis, which included costs like P130 a day for food and even managing to set aside an amount for “entertainment.” In their fantasy world, the family would not only be able to pay all their expenses and all eat, but also have time for some fun recreation. Where is this wonderful imaginary land? I’m sure we’d all love to go there.

Understandably this P10,000 statement did not go over well with the Filipino people who are suffering and struggling to make ends meet. To trivialize their daily hardships was not only insulting to them but was like a slap in the face as well. People protested strongly on their social media and on whatever platform they could find to share their thoughts. Even lawmakers chimed in and challenged the economic managers of President Duterte to try and live on P10,000 themselves to see how they fared (we all know how badly this would turn out – although it would be entertaining to see them somehow make P3,834 feed a family of five for one whole month).

The fact that Duterte’s financial planners tried so hard to make this budget work and really went out of their way to defend was just another way for them to try to cover up the fact that TRAIN induced inflation has really hurt the economy and the country in a very bad way. They are trying to make people feel better about the rising cost of goods and services by claiming that a little amount can actually achieve so much. This was their sad and terrible way of trying to silence the calls for salary and wage hikes, which have been hounding the government ever since costs of goods and services have spiraled out of control.

In either case, talk about a plan backfiring so badly. Instead of assuring the people that everything was going to be okay despite the economic downturn all this has done has made people even more poignantly aware of how much things cost and how much more they need to live – which is a lot the way things are panning out for the Philippines economy these days.

These so-called financial “wizards” or planners need to get their heads out of the clouds and back to earth where they belong. Not only are these types of proclamations insulting and ridiculous but they are dangerous as well. They show that those who are in charge of making plans and projections for the country and for the people don’t know the people at all. How can they properly forecast for the country when they don’t know anything about what it’s like to live like a regular person in the Philippines? How can we safely entrust our financial future to people like these? Ones who are so terribly out of touch and far from the needs of the masses?

And of course, once controversy strikes, the people in the spotlight begin the time-honored tradition of backpedaling. Amidst the anger against the P10,000 proclamation, the Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia clarified that the figure should actually be roughly P42,000 for a family of five to live above the poverty line. While this is slightly more accurate, it is well above the initially proclaimed P10,000 – which makes you question the initial statement in the first place.

Obviously the planners knew that P10,000 was a made-up insane amount. So why did they say it in the first place? Is it because they thought they could get away with it? Did they really think that this would soothe people’s worries about an all-time high in inflation? Probably. That seems to be par for the course in the country. Officials always seem to see what they can “get away” with and if the people accept it that’s just the way it is. This should not be the case. In an ideal world, the government should strive to give the people their very best as opposed to seeing if they can get away with giving them just the bare minimum.