Palace to study declaration of state of economic emergency

Malacañang on Tuesday said that it would look into the possible declaration of a state of economic emergency in light of the impact of the series of fuel price hikes and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

At the Palace briefing, acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said that the declaration of state of economic emergency would be studied through the Office of the Executive Secretary.

“Ito ay masusing pag-aaralan ng Palasyo sa pamamagitan ng Office of the Executive Secretary,” Andanar said.

[It will be studied thoroughly through the Office of the Executive Secretary.]

According to him, the economic team of President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday proposed government interventions to ease the effect of fuel price hikes and the conflict in Ukraine on the country.

He said the team would assess if these would be enough to address the economic issue.

According to Andanar, a "full-blown war" or "world war" may trigger the declaration of an economic emergency.

Asked about specific situations that would result in the declaration of an economic emergency such as reaching a certain threshold for fuel price,  Andanar said it would require a meeting among Cabinet members.

“It will require the full Cabinet and it will require the security cluster, the economic cluster to convene on this. And of course, the President will be the one who would chair this meeting…Well, it’s not yet happening,” he said.

Asked if the government could tap into energy resources in the Recto Bank to help cushion the impact of the supposed crisis, Andanar said that the country would need the help from private companies.

“It’s going to need the cooperation of our big private partners in this Republic. Alam mo naman na pagdating doon sa (When it comes to ) oil exploration, no one government can do this alone,” Andanar said.

“We need the expertise of other big businesses, expertise of other countries, nations that are used to the exploring of energy from the earth,” he added.

Asked about which companies Duterte wants to take over the gas exploration project in Recto Bank as well as the details of the supposed existing joint exploration agreement with China, Andanar said he would defer the matter to the Department of Energy.

The government already allotted P2.5 billion for the fuel subsidy for PUV drivers and operators and P500 million for farmers and fishers to ease the impact of the price hikes on their livelihood.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said they are considering the excess tax collection in March to increase the fuel subsidy budget to P5 billion for PUVs and P1.1 billion for agricultural workers.

“Ito po ay magagamit natin sa pag-fund ng tinatawag nating mga unprogrammed na appropriations. So, ang tingin naman po natin is malamang po magkakaroon din ng excess collection. Dito po natin kukuhanin,” she said.

[We can use these in funding unprogrammed appropriations. So, we think there will be an excess collection. We will source the additional budget from here.] —NB, GMA News