DMCI raises alarm over potential fuel shortage

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March 25, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — With no end in sight to the conflict in the Middle East, the DMCI Group of the Consunji family has expressed concern about the impact of a potential fuel supply shortage.

“I think the major threat really is no fuel. And that could possibly happen,” DMCI Holdings chairman and president Isidro Consunji said.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said the Philippines has sufficient fuel supply for 45 days as of March 20.

Consunji said the risks of a fuel shortage could be worse than those of the pandemic, with the transport industry heavily affected.

“Imagine if no trucks are running, how can people in Manila eat? Transport is the issue. Electricity, I think, we can survive since there is coal, hydro, geothermal, solar,” he said.

“Pandemic was not a supply issue. This is a supply issue,” Tulsi Das Reyes, president and COO of DMCI Mining, said separately.

For Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) president and COO Maria Cristina Gotianun, fuel is the single biggest cost of the company’s operations, which is why it has always been very cautious and diligent in implementing programs to conserve fuel.

However, she said there is really no guarantee of supply at present.

Asked about a contingency plan, Gotianun said, “We cannot do anything. We exert all efforts to be able to get the supply.”

“Nobody would want to guarantee the supply. So we’ll see. The strategy is whatever is available, we get it,” she said.

Gotianun said some suppliers have already backed out, leaving SMPC with “just a little less than what we used to have.”

“April is already booked, but whether it can be delivered is also another thing,“ she said.

SMPC is the country’s largest domestic coal producer and a vertically integrated energy company. By integrating its mining and power operations, the company contributes meaningfully to national energy security and economic development.

“If we cannot operate the trucks and excavators, we’ll have to go to the DOE because this is about energy security. Through that avenue, I am hopeful that the government can help us source the fuel, if that happens. Because with no coal, we have no electricity,” Gotianun said.

DMCI’s property development arm, DMCI Homes, may push back its planned project launches this year due to the impact of ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

“We have three projects slated for this year. We don’t know when we will launch those three. We are still studying what will happen in the next few months,” DMCI Homes president Alfredo Austria said.

“There is a possible delay for our launches. But for existing projects, we have to push through because those are committed,” he said.