Celebrity chef JR Royol, winner of MasterChef Pinoy Edition, has openly criticized the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) recent claim that a Filipino family can prepare a full Noche Buena meal for only P500, calling the statement tone-deaf and disconnected from the daily struggles of ordinary households.
The controversy began after Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said that a family of four or fewer could still prepare a “simple Christmas meal” within a P500 budget, based on the agency’s official Noche Buena price guide. The sample menu cited items traditionally associated with the holiday table, including ham, spaghetti, fruit salad, and pandesal.
Public Backlash
Lawmakers, labor groups, and many everyday Filipinos quickly expressed disbelief and frustration, describing the claim as “out-of-touch” and “insulting,” especially amid rising food prices and stagnant wages.
Royol, responding through a Facebook post, acknowledged that struggling families may indeed manage to piece together a holiday meal with P500. He emphasized that Christmas need not revolve around extravagance.
“A simple meal, shared with the people you love, is and SHOULD be more than enough,” he said.
“Not About Feasts — About Dignity”
However, Royol stressed that DTI’s declaration ignored a deeper reality: the emotional and cultural longing of families who wish to splurge modestly once a year, not out of excess but out of a desire to feel normal and joyful, even for one day.
“There are families who want to splurge once a year — not out of excess, but out of longing… to give their kids even just one day where life feels normal, joyful, dignified,” he wrote.
For Royol, the issue goes beyond whether a meal can fit a particular budget.
“Normalizing Hardship”
The chef warned that framing P500 as “enough” subtly encourages Filipinos to accept survival-level living conditions as the norm.
“By saying ‘P500 is enough,’ they’re not giving budgeting advice. They’re shaping perception… conditioning people to accept less, expect less, and demand less — while billions quietly disappear and the powerful continue to eat well,” he said.
Royol argued that this rhetoric shifts blame onto ordinary citizens instead of acknowledging systemic issues that make holiday celebrations increasingly difficult for many families.
A Sign of Public Fatigue — and Awakening
He added that the intense public backlash reflects a growing exhaustion among Filipinos who feel constantly asked to endure worsening economic conditions.
“It shows how tired we are. How fed up. How done we are with being told to endure while others enjoy,” Royol wrote.
Despite the frustration, the chef expressed a hint of optimism, pointing out that the public’s refusal to accept such narratives could be a sign of growing awareness and collective agency.
“That awakening — that collective refusal to swallow the same old narrative — is the one hopeful thing in all of this,” he said.
