Manila, Mar 25: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a one-year national energy emergency Tuesday, citing the Middle East conflict’s threat of critically low fuel supplies.
Marcos will chair a contingency committee to secure fuel, food, medicines, and essentials, while cracking down on hoarding, profiteering, and petroleum manipulation. The Department of Migrant Workers must prepare for potential evacuations of Filipinos abroad.
Aid includes 5,000 pesos (USD 83) for motorcycle taxi drivers and public transport workers hit by surging gasoline/diesel prices, plus free bus rides for students and workers in select cities.
Of 2.4 million Filipinos in the Middle East—including 31,000 in Israel and 800 in Iran—most remain, with only hundreds repatriated. Filipina caregiver Mary Ann de Vera died in a Feb 28 Iranian missile strike in Tel Aviv while aiding her elderly charge to a shelter.
