MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Tuesday that the country has sufficient oil supply, but warned of higher prices as the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran widens.
Marcos also said at a press conference that the government was studying targeted fuel subsidies for the transport and agriculture sectors.
- Marcos said the government will watch “very, very closely” the impact of the crisis on the foreign exchange rate.
- He said he may ask Congress for authority to suspend excise taxes on oil.
- Marcos urged Filipinos in Israel and other countries in the Middle East affected by the crisis to move to safety, saying the government will arrange repatriation flights once it is secure to do so.
- More than 2.4 million Filipinos are living and working in the Middle East, including 31,000 in Israel and 800 in Iran.
- More than a thousand Filipino migrant workers have requested to be repatriated.
—Reporting by Mikhail Flores and Karen Lema; Editing by John Mair
