A Christmas Controversy
Issue 26 — Key Developments Across the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam
Editor’s Note
by Karen Ysabelle R. David, Lead Editor - Pacific Corridor Desk
In the Philippines, Christmas is the holiday to end all holidays. The months-long celebration culminates in the Noche Buena, the all-important Christmas Eve feast. In this week’s issue of the Pacific Corridor, Eduardo G. Fajermo Jr. writes about how a government official’s remarks on the rising cost of Noche Buena has sparked controversy, fanning perceptions of an indifferent government in the face of inflation and stagnating wages.
Meanwhile, the unusually intense monsoon season that has affected several countries in Southeast Asia has also devastated the central provinces of Vietnam, Hang Nguyen reports. As the effects of climate change continue to worsen, the question of climate security gains ever greater urgency for the country’s policymakers.
Singapore’s policymakers, on the other hand, are faced with a far different question: as correspondent Ryan asks, are the city-state’s employment practices fair? With the sudden closure of several businesses igniting debates about such practices, worker protection — and the plight of the hundreds of workers left with unpaid wages — must remain a key part of these debates.
The Philippines 🇵🇭
Budgeting for Christmas
by Eduardo G. Fajermo Jr., in Angeles City
When the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said a PHP 500 “basic” Noche Buena budget could feed a family of four, the remark ignited an immediate backlash. Noche Buena is the Filipino Christmas Eve family feast that anchors family togetherness, so remarks about its cost hit a cultural nerve.
The agency defended the estimate as a suggestion dependent on family size and brand choices, but the number itself (roughly USD 8–9) landed as out of touch amid elevated food prices and stagnant wages.
Celebrities amplified the public’s disbelief. Alessandra de Rossi quipped on X, “How many slices?”, emphasizing how small the portions would be, while Edu Manzano teased a “PHP 500 Noche Buena Challenge,” a tongue-in-cheek test of the agency’s math. TV host Bianca Gonzalez likewise questioned the lowly view that officials have of Filipino families. Their posts captured a broader sentiment: the estimate may technically be possible on paper, but it ignores lived reality.
Lawmakers also pushed back. In floor and media statements, legislators argued that the DTI guidance understated true holiday costs and risked trivializing ongoing cost-of-living pressures. Some called the figure “insulting.”
DTI, for its part, stood by the guidance, circulating sample bundles drawn from its price-watch to show that a pared-down set of staples (spaghetti components, canned meat, fruit cocktail) could be assembled near the PHP 500 mark. Officials stressed it was a suggestion, not a mandate, and encouraged consumers to shop sales and store brands. Yet critics note that “best-case” pricing rarely holds across regions or barangays, and that transport costs, shrinkflation, and supply bottlenecks complicate any one-size-fits-all basket.
The controversy matters because it is really about trust as much as prices. A holiday budget tip became a lightning rod for frustrations over inflation, wage erosion, and perceived policy aloofness. If authorities want citizens to believe official guidance, two things help: granular transparency (a realistic basket with clear costs that consumers can independently replicate) and policy empathy (acknowledging that many families will still fall short even with careful shopping).
Across Southeast Asia, governments are wrestling with food inflation and purchasing-power anxiety; public trust hinges on how credibly leaders speak to those pressures. The Philippines’ PHP 500 debate fits a regional pattern: when state messaging appears to minimize daily hardship, it can erode confidence, even if the numbers are technically defensible.
For many families, the question is not whether Christmas can be celebrated for PHP 500, but whether governance can be practiced with empathy the other 364 days of the year.
Eduardo is a faculty member at Holy Angel University, where he teaches courses on Philippine history and contemporary global issues. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Political Science at the University of Santo Tomas, with a research focus on disaster governance, environmental politics, and the urban poor in the Philippines.
Vietnam 🇻🇳
Can Climate Security Save Vietnam?
by Hang Nguyen, in Ho Chi Minh City
Annually, Vietnam’s central provinces are the recipient of Mother Nature’s relentlessness. The succession of historical typhoons in the months of September and October — typhoons Ragasa, Bualoi, Matmo, and Fengshen — devastated livelihoods, infrastructure, and took away properties worth a lifetime of work and saving. In the last week of November, Vietnam’s central mainland was hit with record flooding, with some communes seeing historic water levels, including parts of eastern Dak Lak that were submerged under 1.5 to 3 meters of water. As of 24 November, the total count of dead and missing climbed to 102; flooded houses at 202,567; livestock and poultry losses at 1,730,983; and affected rice and crops at 82,414 hectares. As of 26 November, the estimated economic damage was VND 560 billion (roughly USD 21.2 million). As of 27 November, the Vietnamese government issued Notice No. 646/TB-VPCP, ordering a high-level response to effectively mitigate Storm Koto’s impacts on the Central Region. As the region is already enduring landslides, transportation disruptions, and prolonged electricity and drinkable water shortages, climate relief and recovery is forecast to be a difficult task for the administration.
The historical disaster was driven by prolonged rainfall and the rapid filling up of Vietnam’s “single-flood” model reservoirs and water basins. This was further exacerbated by “compound floods”— when one flood has not receded before another flood hits. Existing design standards and flood-management planning were not built to anticipate such a scale of flooding. Structural outdatedness and worsening environmental conditions have been identified as the prominent reasons, according to Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Quốc Dũng, who states that the current 1000-year flood cycle exceeds 500-year cycle reservoir designs. The deterioration of environmental stability caused by climate change prevails as a crucial factor.
Why do national efforts to enhance climate resilience lack the ability to keep up with the state of severity? Direct correlation to human activity — such as rapid urbanization, deforestation, and shrinking natural water retention areas — have reduced drainage capacity, making the impact of heavy rainfall more severe. Climate change also disrupts the patterns of major atmospheric systems such as monsoons, typhoons, and the Intertropical Convergence Zone, causing rainfall to occur out of season or in unusual areas, complicating forecasting and disaster response. Although sustainability efforts have gathered considerable momentum, tangible results will only become visible in the long run. This leaves the Vietnamese government to rely on reactive measures while responding in a timely manner, hoping to alleviate civilian suffering and recognizing the urgent need for a permanent solution.
Regional cooperation on climate security led by ASEAN is another consideration for Vietnamese policymakers. The ASEAN Climate Change Strategic Action Plan (ACCSAP) 2025-2030 aims to coordinate member states, align sectoral plans, and support implementation of national climate commitments. While shared uncertainties can incentivize more coordinated regional responses, it remains to be seen whether climate-disaster responses across the region can overcome institutional fragmentation. Urgency and national expectations weigh heavily on the shoulders of Vietnam’s political leaders as the clock ticks. Many eagerly await to see how the administration can demonstrate political capability during these difficult times.
Hang is a young researcher with academic experience in Vietnam and the United States. She has previously worked in public relations at the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and the YSEALI Academy. Her research focuses on ASEAN centrality in the evolving Asia-Pacific landscape, with particular attention to Vietnam’s approach to trade, regional cooperation, and political economy in the face of external power dynamics and global volatility.
Singapore 🇸🇬
Are Singapore’s Employment Practices Fair?
by Ryan
The abrupt collapse of cupcake chain Twelve Cupcakes has pushed Singapore’s employment practices back into the spotlight. The company entered provisional liquidation on 29 October 2025, closing 20 outlets and affecting about 80 workers, many of whom said they received little advance notice.
At a creditors’ meeting on 24 November, liquidators disclosed that close to 100 creditors are owed slightly over SGD 1 million, excluding unpaid wages for 80 former employees. Under Singapore law, employees with unpaid salaries are treated as “preferred creditors.” Their wage claims, up to a capped amount, are paid ahead of most unsecured creditors once assets are realized. In practice, this can still mean a long wait and uncertainty over whether workers recover their full entitlements.
Current rules try to strike a balance. A parliamentary reply in November 2023 reiterated that employees’ wage claims already rank ahead of other unsecured debts, although they remain behind winding-up costs and behind secured creditors such as banks. Advisory firm Guardian Advisory notes that Singapore law gives employees priority for unpaid salaries up to SGD 13,000 per person as preferred creditors, after which any remaining amounts compete with other unsecured claims. For employers, this cap keeps potential exposure more predictable and may help preserve access to credit, but it also limits the protection available to long-serving or better-paid staff.
On retrenchment rather than outright liquidation, Singapore relies heavily on guidelines rather than strict statute. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) states that employees with at least two years of service are “eligible for retrenchment benefit,” yet the amount is left to contracts or collective agreements. The prevailing norm is two weeks to one month of salary per year of service, not a legal minimum. Employers with at least 10 staff members must notify MOM of any retrenchment within five working days of informing employees, which is meant to trigger job-matching and support rather than to delay or prevent cuts.
Compared with some ASEAN peers, Singapore’s framework is more flexible for employers and less prescriptive for severance. In Malaysia, employees covered by the Employment Act are entitled by regulation to statutory termination or lay-off benefits of at least 10, 15, or 20 days’ wages per year of service, depending on tenure, payable within seven days of termination. Employers must also lodge a Borang PK notification with the Labor Department at least 30 days before retrenchment. In the Philippines, separation pay is mandated by the Labor Code for “authorized causes”: one month’s pay per year of service for redundancy, and at least half a month’s pay per year for closure or retrenchment not due to serious losses. These rules give workers clearer minimums, but raise fixed costs for employers when restructuring or shutting down.
Following the closures of Twelve Cupcakes, Jollibean, and Art Works, lawyers interviewed in a Singapore Law Watch explainer have suggested strengthening worker protection through earlier notification, stricter controls on asset transfers, and possibly moving employees higher in the creditor hierarchy or introducing wage protection funds. Others warn that imposing heavier personal or financial liabilities on owners could deter entrepreneurship or make banks less willing to lend. For now, cases like Twelve Cupcakes highlight a core policy question for Singapore: how to share the risks of business failure fairly between staff, creditors, and business owners, without undermining the city-state’s reputation as an efficient place to do business.
Ryan is a final-year finance student at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) with experience across venture capital, venture debt, and business development. He also holds a diploma in Law and Management from Temasek Polytechnic. His interests lie in how emerging technologies and economic trends shape business ecosystems and regional development in Asia.
Editorial Deadline 02/12/2025 11:59 PM (UTC +8)
