The Manila Times
SEN. Imee Marcos on Sunday urged the government to pursue direct government-to-government (G2G) oil procurement to address the oil crisis triggered by the Middle East war. Marcos criticized the administration’s “passive response” to the oil shock caused by the US-Israel war on Iran. “The Iran war is a crisis all too real for most Filipinos,” she said in a statement. “Sadly, we are bereft of the strong, decisive leadership that should lessen our people’s burdens from a global oil shock that will take years to resolve.” Marcos said the government should buy oil directly from supplier countries and sell it at lower prices to hard-hit sectors such as transport workers, farmers and fisherfolk. “Why hasn’t there been a G2G (government-to-government) deal with Russia during the sanctions waiver period? The waiver was even extended to May 16, yet the government has remained idle,” Marcos said. “Even Petron, a private company, was able to secure 2.48 million barrels of Russian crude. If a private corporation can do it, why can’t the Philippine government?” she said. Marcos said direct diplomacy enabled the Philippines to weather previous global oil shocks. “In the 1970s, the government didn’t just wait for the market to stabilize,” she said. “We negotiated direct G2G oil imports at deeply discounted ‘friendly’ rates to abate the shocks of 1974 and 1979. This strategy worked then; why aren’t we doing it now?” Marcos said Indonesia plans to import 150 million barrels of Russian crude, while Sri Lanka fast-tracked direct G2G deals to address fuel shortages. Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia are “actively negotiating supply and investment agreements with Russia and other exporters such as Brunei,” she said. Marcos said the Philippines should benchmark against other oil-import-dependent nations and study how they are mitigating supply disruptions. “Our government must have a sourcing strategy beyond traditional routes vulnerable to disruption, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, by shifting to non-Middle Eastern suppliers,” she said. “At the same time, we should strengthen direct partnerships with regional producers like Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia instead of relying heavily on intermediaries in refining hubs such as Singapore, South Korea, and China,” Marcos said. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Olexandr Mischenko has said Ukraine is “not happy” with some countries’ move to import crude oil from Russia amid the oil crisis, but the Philippines managed to explain its situation.
Go to News Site