{"id":512833,"date":"2026-03-09T11:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/512833\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T11:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:02:07","slug":"filipinos-race-to-fill-tanks-ahead-of-petrol-price-jump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/512833\/","title":{"rendered":"Filipinos race to fill tanks ahead of petrol price jump"},"content":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2013 Queues formed at Philippine petrol stations and officials warned against hoarding on March 9 as residents raced to fill their tanks ahead of an expected <\/p>\n

surge in prices driven by the US-Israeli war against Iran<\/p>\n

<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fighting in the Middle East has <\/p>\n

disrupted shipping and damaged oil and gas facilities in the region<\/p>\n

<\/a>, sending global oil prices soaring as countries scramble to deal with concerns over supply.<\/p>\n

In the Philippines, consumers will be hit with a series of staggered price increases from March 10, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin told a congressional committee.<\/p>\n

The news comes as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has announced a <\/p>\n

four-day government work week to save fuel<\/p>\n

<\/a>, and governments across Asia are considering suspending exports, installing price caps and even dipping into strategic reserves to stabilise their domestic fuel markets.<\/p>\n

The price of diesel, which powers the Philippines\u2019 public buses and ubiquitous jeepneys, would jump between 17 pesos (37 Singapore cents) and 24 pesos per litre, Ms Garin said at an afternoon press briefing.<\/p>\n

The cost of normal petrol would increase by seven to 13 pesos, while kerosene prices would be hardest hit, jumping between 32 and 38.50 pesos, according to a chart she shared. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to remember, though, that the price is not regulated by (the Department of Energy),\u201d Ms Garin told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can do is monitor and have them explain why their prices are like that. But we cannot impose.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a petrol station in Metro Manila, AFP journalists saw motorcycles, taxis and private cars queueing in scorching heat.<\/p>\n

Petrol station attendant Enrico Guda, 31, said the normal number of vehicles the station handled in a day had doubled to about 1,000 as customers sought to fuel up before prices jumped.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe line started 24 hours ago. Morning, afternoon, even at dawn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Francis Aranda, a 25-year-old university student, told AFP the spike \u201churts\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m planning to use half my (weekly) fuel allowance so I won\u2019t have to worry in the coming days in case the war in Iran continues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Police, meanwhile, have been instructed \u201cto inspect petrol stations in their localities… and gather evidence of profiteering or hoarding\u201d, Philippine National Police spokesman Brigadier-General Randulf Tuano told a news briefing on March 9.<\/p>\n

The ferries that tens of thousands rely on each day to traverse the archipelago nation of 116 million were also in the process of hiking fares.<\/p>\n

Starlite Ferries, a relatively small operator in the central Philippines, announced that a 25 per cent increase would take effect on March 10 for both passengers and cargo.<\/p>\n

Montenegro Shipping Lines, which operates a fleet of 48 vessels, said its prices would go up 10 per cent to 20 per cent from March 23.<\/p>\n

Mr Marcos last week called on Congress to authorise him to reduce excise taxes on petroleum products if the price of crude oil breached US$80 per barrel, a request an administration spokeswoman said he would formalise on March 9.<\/p>\n

West Texas Intermediate, the main US oil benchmark, and Brent crude prices surged north of US$110 a barrel on March 9. AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANILA \u2013 Queues formed at Philippine petrol stations and officials warned against hoarding on March 9 as residents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-512833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}