December 27, 2025 | 4:35pm
SAN JUAN, La Union — The Philippines’ first Miss Universe winner Gloria Diaz is drawing flak over the holidays after the resurfacing of her remarks that P500 is enough for Filipino families to spend on Noche Buena or Christmas dinner.
The issue stems from Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Cristina Roque claiming that P500 is enough for a traditional Christmas dinner in a Filipino household, a comment that did not go well with online discourse.
Diaz fuelled the flames during a junket earlier this month for her Metro Manila Film Festival entry “Rekonek” by agreeing to Roque’s thoughts, adding that public official was a good friend of hers.
“She showed me all of DTI’s [meal plan] for P500. You can have corned beef, fruit salad, you can have pineapple juice na dinadagdagan ng maraming yelo, and you can eat pansit,” Diaz said at the time.
Many Filipinos were quick to bring those words up when Diaz posted a video of her on Instagram last December 26 eating crabs.
“Eating soft shell crabs is a privilege,” Diaz wrote in her post’s caption. “But our crabs in Philippines is just as amazing!”
Based on the posts by Diaz’s daughter Isabelle Daza, the family is spending the Christmas holidays in France.
The comments section of Diaz’s video post were quickly filled with words of criticism and disapproval.
“Bakit po wala kayong corned beef at pineapple juice with lots of ice sa Noche Buena?” goes the top comment, a direct reference to Diaz’s previous statement.
Meanwhile another comment went “This is so insensitive, the audacity to say 500 pesos is enough for Filipino people’s noche buena and defend your friend, invalidating the people, gaslighting them, and showcasing this, not very Miss Universe of you lol.”
Many users asked how much did her family spend on Noche Buena to see if it actually fit Roque’s predictions.
One went as far as tagging the animal rights group the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and say that Diaz supported gavage (force-feeding animals) by eating foie gras, “It seems like she’s not able to walk the talk.”
The beauty queen-turned-actress has yet to address the lastest barrage of comments against her, nor the box office numbers of “Rekonek.”
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