‘Here’s the question no one in power seems keen to answer: Are we just bracing again, or are we finally building?’
WE’VE been here before. Oil shock after oil shock, we clutch our chests like it’s the first time. Talk renewables, build coal. Appoint visionaries, replace them with cronies. Build roads, not rails. Subsidize — but forget to reform. Always bracing. Rarely building.
The Middle East is shaking again, and we can’t pretend we’re safe just because we’re not on the fault line.
What began as tension between Israel and Iran has calcified into a grinding standoff — ideology hardened into posture, diplomacy traded for drones. Russia hovers nearby, playing power-broker. The US is reportedly posturing for conflict. And whether or not a single missile flies, the oil markets are already trembling.
Why should Filipinos care?
Because in this part of the world, we don’t need to be hit to get hurt. Every shift in global supply sends waves through our archipelago, where 90% of our fuel rides in from beyond our waters, much of it past the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most temperamental lifeline.
Our economy? One spark away from whiplash. Drivers already feel it. Workers are already complaining. Markets will soon follow.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says he’s watching closely. His cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, issued a press statement calling for peace. “This is a time for dialogue, not devastation,” it read.
I’d hoped to hear more.
I requested an email interview — real answers to real questions. What I got was a press release, curated for public digestion, copy-pasted across inboxes like a ceasefire of substance.
This is what we’ve normalized: statements without scrutiny, posture without plan.
To their credit, the administration did act — ₱2.5 billion for Pantawid Pasada to reach 286,306 public utility drivers and operations, 600,000 tricycle operators, and 140,000 delivery riders.
Relief, yes. And it’s soothing the pain. But relief doesn’t solve. The next oil shock will arrive. The only mystery is whether we’ll still be holding our breath or standing on something solid.
Here’s the question no one in power seems keen to answer: Are we just bracing again, or are we finally building?
Methinks what we need is a policy mix — a strategy that cushions the blow today and builds resilience for tomorrow.
It’s time — past time actually — for a real strategy:
• Subsidies that are targeted, not scattershot.
• Cash transfers to keep the poorest households afloat.
• Strategic fuel reserves — stocked before the crisis, not during.
• Regional cooperation through ASEAN — not as supplicants, but as a bloc.
• Aggressive investment in clean energy, minus the press conference theatrics.
• Rails over roads. Futures over fumes.
Not a wish list. A plan.
And yet here we are again. Every oil shock hits us like it’s the first time. We talk renewables, but build coal. Appointed an environmentalist, replaced by a crony. We build roads, but not rails. We subsidize, but rarely reform. It’s not just President Marcos Jr.’s moment to lead. It’s ours to demand it.
Because the true threat isn’t just in the Strait of Hormuz.
It’s in our refusal to act while we still have the fuel to do so.
