A nationwide poll found that the share of Filipino households reporting food insecurity had grown by the July-to-September period, with an even broader portion of respondents describing their financial circumstances as having worsened. Around one in four people who took part in the survey reported going without food on at least one occasion over the preceding three-month period.

Data gathered by Social Weather Stations across the week of 21–27 September placed the share of households reporting involuntary hunger at 22.6 per cent, a rise of 2.3 percentage points against the 20.3 per cent recorded in June. Involuntary hunger refers to the condition in which people go without food not by choice but because they cannot obtain it, whether through poverty, supply gaps, or other barriers beyond their control.

According to SWS data, the proportion of Filipino households reporting involuntary hunger has reached a level not recorded since 1998. At 22.6 per cent, the hunger rate measured this year sat 1.5 percentage points above the peak average of 21.1 per cent recorded in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the country.

Survey data placed Metro Manila's capital region at the top of the hunger scale, with more than one in four residents — 27 per cent — reporting food insecurity, while Mindanao recorded a rate of 23.7 per cent. In the rest of Luzon, roughly 23.6 per cent of people reported going hungry, while across the Visayas the share dropped to 16.0 per cent.

In that same September poll, more than half of Filipino households — 55 per cent — described their own financial situation as poor, with a further 9 per cent placing themselves in the borderline poor category. Roughly 16.8 million households across the Philippines placed themselves in the poor category as of September, a count that had stood at 13.6 million just three months earlier in June. According to the SWS poll, four in ten Filipinos described their households as going without enough food, relying on smaller portions and plainer meals to get by.

Ramil, a food stall vendor, noted that porridge sales had been tapering off. Cooking gas expenses had risen by as much as 44 per cent after hostilities broke out in the Middle East that year, he noted, and a P5-per-order price increase that followed prompted a share of his regular customers to scale back from two daily purchases to one. Ramil further disclosed that he had put a stop to offering credit arrangements to the people he served. Each bowl carries a price tag of P50.

At a nearby food stall, the vendor noted that extra ladlefuls of sauce are added to each plate to maintain the impression that portion sizes have stayed the same, even as a three-piece meat dish now fetches P80 and a small serving of rice goes for P20. Food vendor Joanna told a well-known broadcaster that awareness of the situation was widespread among residents of the area.

The SWS poll was conducted during a period when the Philippines was recording its steepest inflation readings since hostilities in the Middle East broke out toward the end of February. A 7.2 per cent rise in consumer prices was recorded across both April and September.

Ibon Foundation, a think tank focused on economic research, argued through its executive director Sonny Africa that the administration had not deployed its declared national energy emergency authority to regulate domestic fuel costs or place limits on essential goods pricing, and had instead directed resources toward targeted cash assistance programmes.