JAKARTA - Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has ordered the release of emergency funds of 20 billion pesos to secure fuel supplies amid a global oil crisis due to the conflict in the Middle East.
The Philippine News Agency (PNA), quoted on Wednesday, March 25, reported that the funds would be channeled to the Philippine Energy Ministry through a Special Allotment Release Order and Notice of Cash Allocation issued on Tuesday, March 24. The budget is sourced from the Malampaya Gas Fund in the Special Account in the General Fund.
The funds will be used to implement the Emergency Energy Security Program to ensure the availability of fuel, prevent supply shortages, and mitigate the impact of global oil price fluctuations. The government will use it for strategic procurement of solar, gasoline, and LPG to increase national reserves, stabilize prices at gas stations, and keep essential services running.
The program will be run by the Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), which is said to have started procurement to immediately increase domestic supplies. The move was taken amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East that disrupted global oil production and distribution.
A day earlier, Marcos signed Executive Order 110 which declared a national energy emergency for one year to stabilize the Philippine energy sector.
Acting Budget Minister Rolando Toledo, still from the PNA, said the government wanted to ensure that fuel remained available, prices remained under control, and essential services were not disrupted. According to him, every peso that was disbursed was intended to keep the economy moving, the distribution of goods running smoothly, and public services running.
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