Coronavirus: Filipinos go hungry amid rising pork prices, inflation and job losses
- Just as coronavirus sends unemployment to a 15-year high, Filipinos are being hit with rising prices for food and drink
- African swine fever has sent the price of pork, a staple in the Philippine diet, rocketing. A labour group wants a US$2 rise in the minimum daily wage
Jen Armado, a 32-year-old mother of two, was supposed to mark her 10th year as a secretary in a private school in Tanza, Cavite, a coastal town south of Metro Manila, when she was laid off in August.
While troubled and downtrodden, Armado quickly thought of a way to recoup the lost income. “I don’t have a laptop or even broadband internet to apply for a remote job. Good thing I love cooking, so I sold home-cooked meals instead,” she said.
“I can say [the meals] were a hit,” she said. “I was even able to buy a bike for my four-year-old daughter on her birthday from my earnings, and it was enough for our household expenses until my husband found a job last year.”
But her budget tricks were no match for the rising price of pork. “I sold these meals till November, but after that, I had to pause since the price of pork started to rise,” she said.
