Spineless, co-opted regime
Instead of a faithful pass-through of the global drop, oil companies are allowed the replacement-cost pricing regime, which Marcos had called out but did nothing about.
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Instead of a faithful pass-through of the global drop, oil companies are allowed the replacement-cost pricing regime, which Marcos had called out but did nothing about.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s energy emergency response is a national disgrace, as oil companies are making a killing by gaming the market for maximum profits.
While he signed two key measures, one declaring a state of national energy emergency and another granting him the authority to suspend or reduce fuel excise taxes, both lacked decisive follow-through that undermined their intended impact.
After the two-week US-Iran ceasefire was announced on the evening of 7 April 2026, just 90 minutes before US President Donald Trump’s self-imposed deadline for military action, the benchmark Brent crude plummeted 13.3 percent in a single day to $94.75 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell as much as 16 percent.
Locally, the price adjustments are far more muted. Oil companies are projecting a diesel rollback of only P7 to P9 per liter and a gasoline rollback of P1 per liter.
Diesel, which had spiked toward P170 in some areas, may ease to around P163 to P164 per liter. Gasoline sits near P118 to P119.
That is relief, yes, but, in the words of former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Solita Monsod, it is feather-light compared to the rocket-speed hikes of recent weeks.
Instead of a faithful pass-through of the global drop, oil companies are allowed to use a replacement-cost pricing regime, which Marcos had called out but did nothing about.
Prices rocket upward on bad news and descend slowly on good news, insulating corporate margins while consumers wait.
The Department of Energy (DoE) tempered expectations, saying Filipinos should not anticipate a return to pre-war diesel prices of around P56 to P57 per liter, even if the war ends.
Pump prices in the country are among the highest in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Research group IBON Foundation bared that fuel prices are the direct, deliberate outcome of government choices that have surrendered price-setting to private oil companies.
High fuel prices also result in windfall revenues from the fixed excise tax and the variable 12 percent value-added tax.
Consider the backdrop of money being carted away in suitcases and the P1 trillion lost to corruption over the three years Marcos was in power.
Under the Oil Deregulation Law, the firms set pump prices according to whatever “replacement cost” formula maximizes their windfall.
In March alone, fuel companies pocketed an estimated P46.5 billion, or roughly P1.5 billion daily, while 21.1 million of the country’s poorest, low-income and lower-middle-class families watched their already threadbare budgets go up in smoke.
“Compare us with our neighbors. Countries that kept meaningful state participation and vertically integrated oil industries have cushioned their people from the same global volatility,” according to IBON’s report.
March inflation already hit 4.1 percent. Fuel is the principal driver. Every centavo added to diesel and gasoline ricochets through the entire economy, pushing up prices of food, transport, electricity and manufacturing. The poorest feel it first, hardest and longest.
Yet the Marcos administration continues to insist that the solution is more of the same, placing trust in oil firms while the government weighs its options indefinitely.
The Executive Order on the excise tax reduction was never meant to be a serious instrument of relief but a shield to buy time and a way to look busy while doing nothing.
Declaring an “energy emergency” was of the same substance — no public control of strategic stocks or regulation of a windfall-profit tax on the oil majors.
Dismantling the pricing regime that lets corporations pass every global spike straight onto Filipino wallets while insulating their margins was not even discussed.
Filipinos continue to wait for the most basic act of governance and for Marcos to stop subsidizing corporate greed at the gas pump.
