The claim of the Department of Trade and Industry that P500 is enough to fund a Noche Buena during these times has gone viral for the wrong reasons lately, with most of the comments saying that it proves just how out of touch our government officials are.
If you come to think of it, Trade Secretary Maria Cristina Aldeguer-Roque wasn’t totally wrong when she said a Filipino family of four can have a Noche Buena meal for only P500, based on a DTI price guide. After all, in a country where people still eat in infamous ‘pagpag’, which is leftover fastfood reconstituted into something edible, a crappy Noche Buena would definitely be something considered acceptable by government officials who would rather deal with numbers than the day-to-day problems of real Filipinos.
P500 cannot buy a decent Noche Buena, but as the DTI reckons, it’s better than nothing, which means you still get a crappy one, which perfectly describes the way we are governed. We should be aspiring for better, but all we get/afford/deserve is slightly less than the bare minimum. If you come to think of it, that is probably the same as having the most bare bones ‘spaghetti’ or ‘macaroni salad’ on the planet for Noche Buena. It sucks, but we are a resilient people so we can manage, maybe because we don’t think we can do better.
The DTI does this minimum Noche Buena costing every year, but only got in trouble this time. Maybe Filipinos are finally getting fed up with being told that it is ok to just be surviving and celebrate the holidays on a bare minimum budget.
One lesson it can learn from this year’s brouhaha is that maybe it should present its Noche Buena budget in tiers next time. Tier I would be the bare minimum, like this year’s P500, which is basically an insult to any Filipino aspiring to celebrate the occasion. That would be like our government: it gets the job done, although in the worst possible way. At least that way, the DTI makes it clear that the bare minimum budget is truly bare bones, just for the sake of compliance. No one can be mad at it when there are zero expectations.
It could then also present mid and high tiers of Noche Buena budgets, which gives Filipinos something to aspire for. That might allow the DTI to get away and continue its Noche Buena tradition without getting into too much trouble in social media next year.
A DTI that champions the bare bones Noche Buena like it is an achievement is a great analogy for our country and government. Filipinos are so resilient that we are fine with the bare minimum, which obviously doesn’t bother us because we keep voting the same people into positions of power and responsibility every time.
The P500 Noche Buena in 2025 went too far because we all know what the amount can buy these days, and if we are talking about a family of four, that is certainly nothing special, which is what the event should be. If the DTI wants us to think that inflation isn’t that bad, and P500 still has value in this country, it obviously went a bit too far when it equated the amount with something like Noche Buena, which is supposed to be a sort of a feast.
Of course, we can work or earn extra to afford a Noche Buena that has meat dishes, ham, dessert, fruits, and drinks, because such a meal will cost way more than P500. We already know that you get what you pay for, but what we can’t seem to internalize as a people is that we deserve the government we vote for.
If you come to think of it, it may be a good thing that the Noche Buena issue blew up during this time when we are all focused on our government and its corruption, because the issue is more than just about how bad inflation has been. It is actually about what we are willing to tolerate from our government and its officials that are not only massively out of touch, but also think that giving us the bare minimum of anything is enough.
If we won’t settle for a crappy Noche Buena budget estimate, we also shouldn’t settle for a crappy government that doesn’t even try to give us what we deserve. Especially after all they’ve taken from us in the form of taxes, yet we are still somehow expected to expect nothing in return.*
