Marcos orders crisis committee as Palace insists 'no oil crisis'

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March 23, 2026 | 2:16pm

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the creation of a crisis committee to manage the fallout from the Middle East war on fuel and food supplies, Malacañang confirmed Monday, March 23.

At a livestreamed briefing, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the executive order creating the committee is being finalized but declined to say who would sit on it or when it would begin work. 

"Let's just wait for the document to be released," Castro told reporters, noting the order had been in the works before outside calls for a crisis body reached Malacañang.

The committee's main task, Castro said, would be to ensure that supplies of petroleum products and food are not disrupted.

The Palace official also disagreed with criticism that the government has been minimizing the severity of the crisis.

"This is the real situation: the government is working, on the president's orders, to make sure there is no shortage of petroleum products," Castro said in Filipino. 

She insisted that supplies of crude oil, fuel, and food remain sufficient and said Marcos wants Filipinos to feel "the government is here for the people and will not abandon them."

Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said last week the Philippines is not in an oil crisis because fuel supply remains adequate while drawing a distinction between price and supply. "When we say crisis, it means there is no supply. That is not the case," Garin said in a radio interview on March 17.

But that messaging on the lack of an actual all-out crisis contrasts with what is happening on the ground, where several transport groups are sounding the alarm on the economic impact of the crisis.

Protests intensify

Transport group Piston staged a two-day nationwide strike last week that paralyzed some 60 major routes in Metro Manila, according to the group, demanding a rollback of fuel prices to P55 per liter and the removal of excise and value-added taxes on petroleum. The strike ended Friday without any concrete resolution. 

On Monday — the same day as Castro's briefing — a broader coalition mounted a separate "transport holiday": Alliance of Concerned Transport Organization (ACTO) and the National Federation of Transport Cooperatives pulled their fleets off the road. ACTO President Libay de Luna said drivers could no longer afford to operate.

Marcos himself warned on March 7 that the country's oil reserves are sufficient for only 50 to 60 days. 

The Philippines imports 98% of its crude oil from the Middle East. The war — triggered by joint US-Israeli airstrikes that killed Iran's supreme leader on February 28 — led to Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil passes. 

Oil firms are set to implement another round of price hikes this week, with diesel and kerosene expected to post double-digit increases.