MANILA — While the Philippines scrambles for every last barrel of oil to keep the lights on, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was busy in New York delivering lofty speeches about women’s rights and positioning himself as a global “bridge builder.” That was March 9–10, at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and related high-level meetings. Tensions between Israel and Iran were already boiling over into open conflict. The region that supplies 98 percent of our imported fuel was sliding into chaos. Yet the president’s calendar was packed with photo-ops, gender-equality platitudes, and polite calls for “restraint and respect for international law.”
Fast-forward two weeks. On March 24, Marcos finally declared a national energy emergency. The reason? The Middle East war has strangled oil procurement, leaving the country with barely 45 days of fuel reserves as of March 20. Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez now admits the government is begging the U.S. State Department for waivers to buy oil from sanctioned nations—Venezuela, Iran, you name it. “All options are being considered,” he told Reuters. “Work in progress.”
Work in progress? That’s diplomatic speak for “we’re late and we’re desperate.”
Let’s be brutally clear: this is not statesmanship. This is negligence dressed up as multilateralism. Marcos flew to New York amid an unfolding energy crisis he now claims poses an “imminent danger” to the Philippine economy. He could have used that working visit to corner U.S. officials in closed-door meetings and hammer out the waivers before diesel prices doubled and coal plants had to be cranked up as an emergency stopgap. Instead, he chose the global stage, the applause, the glowing headlines about women’s empowerment and Middle East peace.
Filipinos don’t eat photo-ops. They don’t fill their tanks with UN resolutions. They pay the price when taxpayer-funded junkets take precedence over securing the fuel that powers hospitals, factories, tricycles, and jeepneys. While Marcos preened in New York, the Department of Energy was left twisting in the wind. Now Ambassador Romualdez—whose family ties to the Marcoses are well-known—delivers the embarrassing admission that we’re reduced to pleading for exemptions from the very sanctions Washington enforces.
This is the same administration that loves to lecture us about “unity” and “nation-building.” Yet the nation it was elected to lead is staring at rolling blackouts, spiking transport costs, and a public that has watched infrastructure crumble and corruption scandals multiply while the president jets off for another round of international virtue-signaling. Graft remains unchecked. Flooded streets and broken railways are still the daily reality for millions. And faith in government is eroding faster than our fuel stocks.
The emergency declaration—good for one year—authorizes emergency purchases and boosts coal generation. Translation: more expensive, dirtier power because foresight was missing when it mattered. The first Russian crude shipment in five years arrived only because Washington granted a 30-day waiver. A similar waiver for Iranian oil already at sea expires April 19. These are bandaids, not strategy. And they came after Marcos had already been in Washington’s orbit.
What kind of leadership treats a working visit to the United Nations as a personal branding exercise while the country’s energy lifeline is bleeding out? The kind that confuses global applause with domestic competence. The kind that believes a well-crafted speech on gender equality can drown out the roar of empty fuel depots back home.
Vice President Sara Duterte and the rest of the cabinet should be asking the same question the public is asking: why was energy security not priority number one when the president was literally in the room with the people who issue the waivers? Filipinos deserve better than a leader who treats the presidency as a stage for self-image rather than a post for problem-solving.
The Philippines is not a backdrop for presidential tourism. It is a nation of 110 million people who expect their government to anticipate crises, not react to them after the damage is done. Accountability is long overdue. Enough with the overseas escapes. Enough with the grand speeches that solve nothing at the gas pump. It’s time for real leadership—here, at home, where it actually counts.(TAMBULI NG BAYAN-Ronnie Estrada) #OilCrisis #BagongPilipinas #PCO #PBBM #IranWar #LizaMarcos #MartinRomualdez #UN #ArmedForcesOfThePhilippines #DOEPH #sharongarin #baberomualdez #POTUS #Senado #Kongreso #IsraelIranWar #BongbongMarcos