Malacañang on Tuesday (March 8) said it will thoroughly evaluate the proposal of some lawmakers to declare a state of economic emergency due to fuel prices amid the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian crisis.
“Ito ay masusing pag-aaralan ng Palasyo sa pamamagitan ng Office of the Executive Secretary, at nagpresenta nga kagabi ang economic team ni Pangulo ng proposed government interventions, kaya tingnan natin kung ang mga ito ay sapat na,” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in the Palace briefing.
Andanar, who was recently designated as the acting presidential spokesperson, said the economic emergency declaration would require a full Cabinet, including the economic and security clusters to convene which “is not happening yet.”
“Obviously if there’s a full blown war, that would trigger it. But again, we will have to ask our experts, the Department of Finance,” he said.
“There is an actual war going on in Ukraine and our economic managers are following what is happening in Ukraine. We’ve had a few meetings already. I’m talking about the possible impacts of what is happening in Ukraine, the increase in oil prices,” he said.
He also noted the use of alternative sources of energy after President Rodrigo Duterte mentioned in his Monday public address the joint exploration in the West Philippine Sea.
On Monday, the economic development cluster of the current administration proposed 14 measures “to alleviate the impact of the crisis,” which includes the shift to Alert Level 1, provision of subsidies, and tariff reduction for some goods.
“In terms of the tariff reduction po, since Congress is not in session, we will submit a request for the issuance of an executive order,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua said.
“There are dalawa lang po na kailangan ng batas, we will prepare it immediately so that Congress can consider it immediately when they return in May for a session,” he added. AG-rir
