Former Bayan Muna Representative and House Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Isagani Zarate on Thursday warned that the Philippines could face a surge in inflation in the coming months if the Marcos administration fails to act decisively on the escalating oil price crisis. The US-Israel conflict with Iran, he said, continues to reverberate across global energy markets.

Zarate noted that the Philippine Statistics Authority reported inflation rising to 2.4 percent in February from 2 percent in January, signaling more severe price pressures ahead. He emphasized that rising oil costs ripple through transport, food, electricity, and basic goods, affecting workers, farmers, and the poor.

He urged Congress to fast-track House Bill 215, the “Presyo Ibaba Bill,” which seeks to remove excise taxes and the expanded VAT on oil, electricity, water, tolls, food, and other essentials. “Every day this bill languishes in committee is another day Filipino families overpay for fuel, electricity, and basic necessities,” Zarate said.

Beyond HB 215, he called for swift passage of comprehensive reforms: House Bills 8125 to 8128, covering regulation of the downstream oil industry, centralized procurement, renationalization of Petron Corporation, and unbundling of oil prices.

Zarate criticized the country’s vulnerability to global oil shocks as structural, stemming from decades of neoliberal policies that surrendered control of the energy sector to transnational oil corporations. With up to 95 percent of petroleum needs imported, he warned, any major disruption in the Middle East, particularly a war involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, could trigger catastrophic price spikes.

He condemned the US-Israeli military actions as reckless and called on the Philippine government to assert national sovereignty by protecting citizens from conflicts they did not start. “Inflation at 2.4 percent today is just the beginning. Without structural intervention, the months ahead will bring price pain that no amount of presidential flexibility can address,” Zarate said.