Road opens, fuel soars: Who really benefits?

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday led the opening of the CAVITEX C5 Link Segment 3B, a two-kilometer connector road expected to accommodate up to 36,000 vehicles daily and cut travel time between Parañaque and Taguig from over an hour to just 15 minutes.

The project was pitched as a solution to congestion and a boost to mobility, with the President underscoring its role in the government’s infrastructure push. It will also be toll-free for April to ease travel during Holy Week.

But the opening comes as fuel prices continue to surge, raising questions about who ultimately stands to benefit from faster roads in an environment of record-high pump prices.

Diesel prices have breached the P100-per-liter mark in parts of the country after more than 10 consecutive weeks of increases, driven by global supply disruptions linked to tensions in the Middle East. Gasoline prices surged to over P90 per liter, with projections pointing to further increases amid continued volatility.

Even as supply is being secured, relief has yet to reach consumers.

Petron Corporation, which accounts for about 30 percent of the country’s fuel market and operates its only refinery, confirmed it procured 2.48 million barrels of Russian crude to shore up inventory until June, describing the situation as “precarious.”

The move followed the arrival of more than 700,000 barrels of Russian crude earlier this month, part of government-backed efforts to stabilize supply after disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil chokepoint.

Petron said the purchase was an “extraordinary emergency measure” after exhausting other options, warning that failure to secure crude could trigger shortages, price spikes, and widespread economic disruption.

Malacañang has maintained that the country is facing a “price disruption,” not a supply crisis, even as the government declared a national energy emergency and rolled out support measures for key sectors.

Still, with prices continuing to climb despite fresh supply, the benefits of new road capacity may be uneven.

For motorists, faster travel could mean lower fuel consumption per trip. But for many, the cost of fuel itself remains the bigger burden – potentially offsetting any savings from reduced travel time.

The contrast highlights a growing tension: infrastructure designed to move more vehicles, and an energy reality that is making mobility increasingly expensive.

As 36,000 vehicles are expected to pass through the new link daily, the question remains whether the gains will be felt most by ordinary commuters – or by industries tied to fuel consumption in a market where prices continue to rise.