“Pira-pirasong Piso" (Documentary by Jay Taruc)

Episode on June 13, 2011 The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) has released statistics detailing that a family of five has to earn P7,017 (nationwide) or P8,251 (NCR) in a month to stay out of poverty. This translates to roughly P275 a day. The data includes the basic food and non food needs. Other agencies use the data released by NSCB to define the poverty threshold and as basis to help the poor. But how do you measure poverty? I-Witness investigates how Juan Dela Cruz manages to get by the daily grind of surviving. For Mang Ronaldo, having no regular job means he has to earn extra money to help his wife who is working as a saleslady in Divisoria. He sells seasonal fruits in front of his house aside from taking care of their domestic needs like cooking, cleaning the house and grooming the kids. The same can be said about Delma. She goes door to door, selling beauty products while her husband is an ice cream vendor. The family’s combined income is eight thousand a month but with three kids, they are barely scraping it. Following the legacy of the award-winning documentary "P36", Jay Taruc does a little experiment. He challenges these heads of the family if they can make ends meet with P275 for one day. The result is a revelation on the Pinoy's ingenuity in budgeting even the last peso... Jay Taruc’s “Pira-pirasong Piso" airs this Monday on I-Witness.