₱96.22 a Day: Is the Philippine Poverty Threshold Reflective of the Actual Cost of Living in 2026?

This working paper questions whether the Philippine government’s 2025 poverty threshold—₱35,121 per person per year, or about ₱96.22 daily—is enough to reflect the real cost of living in 2026.� Main argument The paper compares official poverty statistics with everyday expenses in Cebu City, Manila, Makati City, and Davao City. It focuses on ordinary carinderia meals, home-cooking costs, LPG, cooking oil, rice, vegetables, housing, utilities, transport, and other basic needs.� Preliminary finding A basic Cebu carinderia meal—rice, viand, and vegetables—was observed at ₱120, excluding a drink. Three such meals would cost ₱360 per day, well above the official ₱96.22 daily per-person threshold; however, these are preliminary consumer-reported prices, not verified citywide averages.� Proposed research The study plans to collect prices from at least 10 ordinary carinderias in each of the four cities, for 40 establishments and up to 120 meal observations. It will also build household budgets and compare the results with PSA poverty thresholds and official methodology.� Bottom line The paper does not claim that PSA data are fabricated. Instead, it argues that the official threshold may understate real hardship and recommends more frequent regional food-basket reviews, transparent calculations, and supplementary living-cost benchmarks.