PHILIPPINES PERSPECTIVE

Manila is living the energy crisis in its flesh. Cagayan de Oro, a city of 730,000 on the island of Mindanao, has declared a state of emergency after fuel reserves dropped below critical levels. Transport cooperatives have suspended operations -- tens of thousands of commuters are stranded with no way to reach work. The crisis has spawned a new kind of crime: two people were arrested for siphoning diesel directly from a tanker truck, and authorities seized 9.75 million pesos worth of fuel in a crackdown on illegal diesel trafficking, with nine arrests. Siphoning isn't banditry -- it's the symptom of an economy where fuel is worth more than a week's wages. President Marcos Jr. signed a law authorizing fuel tax suspension, and Congress is preparing 'Bayanihan 3,' the third crisis package in six years after the two Covid ones. But this time, the enemy isn't a virus with a predictable curve -- it's a war 8,000 kilometers away that nobody can time. In the Philippines, the energy crisis isn't read on Brent charts but in gas station queues, idle buses, and courtrooms trying diesel thieves.