PHILIPPINES PERSPECTIVE

Manila experiences the energy crisis not as a news headline but as a social emergency. The Inquirer reports that the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) estimates that 3.1 million additional Filipinos could slide into poverty due to rising fuel prices. The Philippine Star refines the figure to 1.34 million for the scenario at $105 per barrel, with national poverty rising from 13.2 percent to 14.4 percent. At $145 per barrel, it reaches 16.3 percent. Poor households are hardest hit because they dedicate 57 percent of their spending to food—and food supply chains are energy-intensive. The government has declared a national energy emergency. The Department of Energy has begun setting mandatory price adjustments at the pump, announcing minimum price cuts (diesel minus 20.89 pesos per liter this week). Energy Secretary Sharon Garin invokes the 1998 Oil Deregulation Law to temporarily take control of oil company operations. In the Cordillera region, inflation reached 4.5 percent in March. In Zambales, electricity rates are rising. The Philippines' largest beach festival in Mindanao is cancelled. The crisis is measured here in lost pesos, skipped meals, cancelled celebrations—not in flights to Málaga.