Total drift spills out

The country has been placed under a national energy emergency and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed Republic Act 12316, granting him the authority to temporarily suspend or reduce the excise tax on petroleum. No concrete steps, however, are yet in sight.

In the eyes of economic experts, the President has been lagging in addressing the immediate repercussions of the Middle East war.

Economist and former socioeconomic planning secretary Solita Monsod said the process of obtaining emergency powers was very slow and a “coherent” plan is still lacking.

“The important question is, what is he going to do with it? Is he going to take over the oil companies, and who is going to take over?”

“Is the government just as competent as the oil companies, or more competent? What are we worried about? I don’t know. I haven’t seen a single item that he has announced he will do under his emergency powers.”

“If you take over the oil companies, who’s going to run them? In other words, are we just going to say that from now on you’re going to take your instructions from us?” Monsod rattled off the questions to Marcos.

Until the Palace announces the belated steps, she said these should be well studied to compensate for the delay.

If the government takes over private operations, “are we sure these oil companies are now making tremendous profits from the situation? I don’t think so. I think they’re just as concerned as we are about prices, but they can’t do anything about it,” she said.

“We’re acting from the seat of our pants, and that’s no good,” the University of the Philippines School of Economics professor emeritus said.

The economic expert also questioned the source of the proposals. “They are certainly not coming from him (Marcos),” she said.

While the Marcos administration vacillates, the country’s neighbors have been coping.

Indonesia is subsidizing diesel prices, which is vital for industries. The Indonesian government said it will absorb the price shock rather than pass it on to consumers.

Malaysia is providing targeted fuel subsidies for citizens. The government maintains this to protect the public welfare, with enforcement against misuse.

Thailand, meanwhile, maintains an Oil Fuel Fund through a fuel levy, which is used to cap prices. During the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the current leader’s father, a similar mechanism called the Oil Price Stabilization Fund delayed price increases whenever a crisis erupted.

The populist move to reduce or suspend the excise tax on fuel will hit the government’s fiscal options.

“When you suspend the fuel tax, you benefit the rich as well as the poor,” Monsod said.

She said the more effective but less popular move would be to strengthen targeted interventions for the poor through additional allocations.

Among the options to ramp up funding is the use of the President’s contingency funds, she said.

The problem, however, will persist whenever an external disruption occurs due to the country’s complete dependence on imported fuel.

“We don’t have any oil and if the oil supplies are costing too much the only thing we can do is to search for oil and the natural place to search for it is in the West Philippine Sea. You don’t need an emergency situation to know that, right?” Monsod said.

Congress, too has shown an evident lack of urgency, she said, adding: “Why did Congress recess if this was such a serious emergency?”

Monsod echoed the question asked by ordinary citizens: Why is the Marcos administration operating in a business-as-usual mode amid a state of crisis?