Transport workers in the Philippines are accusing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr of failing to control fuel prices, as soaring costs have severely impacted their livelihoods. Arturo Modelo, a 52-year-old jeepney driver in Metro Manila, now earns only about a third of the 600 Philippine pesos ($10) he normally makes, due to the sharp increase in fuel expenses. ‘I can’t even afford my kid’s lunch money,’ Modelo told Al Jazeera.

Strikes and Protests Over Fuel Costs

The iconic jeepney, a staple of Philippine transport since the end of World War II, is the cheapest and most common form of commuter transport. Last week, jeepney owners staged a strike, which was followed by larger demonstrations this week. Thousands of transport workers, including bus, taxi, and motorcycle taxi drivers, joined the protests, demanding price controls on petrol and diesel, an end to fuel taxes, and tighter government regulation of the fuel industry.

The protests were organized by the No to Oil Price Hike Coalition, a group representing nearly a dozen national transport groups. The coalition accused the government of being too slow to act and ignoring their demands for price caps. Jerome Adonis, chairperson of the national workers’ group Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement), joined the strike and said, ‘Filipinos didn’t start this war, don’t want any part of it, but are suffering because of it. It’s like the United States also dropped a bomb on us.’

State of National Energy Emergency Declared

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of national energy emergency on Tuesday night, the first such declaration as the US-Israel war on Iran entered its fourth week. The emergency will remain in force for one year, allowing the government to rapidly procure fuel and petroleum products and take action against hoarding, profiteering, and manipulation of petroleum product supplies.

Marcos said he had ordered the ‘implementation of the fuel and energy allocation plan and other energy conservation measures’ to tackle the price surge and promised the country would have ‘a flow of oil.’ However, the Philippines has been hit harder than its neighbors by the price shocks since the US and Israel attacked Iran last month. It now has among the highest diesel and petrol prices in Southeast Asia, slightly behind Singapore, which has higher wages and a much higher standard of living.

According to various reports, Singapore diesel was about $2.7 per litre this week, while diesel in the Philippines went up to $2.3 per litre. Petrol was about $2.35 per litre in Singapore, while in the Philippines it was nearly $2 per litre. In contrast, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand have recorded prices at about half of that at the fuel pumps.

Government Subsidies and Public Dissatisfaction

As transport costs rise, some cities have provided free bus rides to students and workers, and the government has started to provide a 5,000 peso ($83) subsidy to motorcycle taxi drivers and other public transport workers. However, for many, strike action is the only platform to express their concerns.

Transport union leaders said thousands had joined picket lines at 85 commuter terminals across the capital and major cities, while very few jeepneys could be seen on typically congested streets during the strike on Friday. Authorities, however, said the two days of industrial action failed to paralyze Metro Manila, criticizing the strike’s organizers and participants for inconveniencing commuters.

Presidential spokesperson Claire Castro said the administration would study the possibility of directly subsidizing fuel costs, similar to some countries in Southeast Asia. Castro stated the government had already doled out 2.5 billion pesos ($414m) in fuel subsidies this week to nearly 300,000 transport workers. However, advocacy groups say some 2 million people are likely working in the sector.

Jeepney driver Modelo, who spoke to Al Jazeera, said nobody from the transport terminal where he worked in Manila had received any government assistance. Mody Floranda, national president of the transport workers group Piston, which initiated some of the strike action, said President Marcos Jr was favoring oil companies over Filipinos. ‘Right now, Marcos can release an executive order for a price cap. He says it’s an emergency but acts like it isn’t,’ said Floranda.

Economic Experts Highlight Structural Issues

Industrial economics Professor Krista Yu at De La Salle University in Manila said the dire situation was also due to the country’s ‘very limited domestic production and refining capacity.’ According to the Energy Department, about 98 percent of the domestic crude oil supply is imported in the Philippines.

Emmanuel Leyco, chief economist at Credit Rating and Investors Services Philippines and the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), said that while the president is concerned about supply, ‘the public is already feeling the pain caused by unreasonable runaway prices.’ Leyco blamed the Oil Industry Deregulation Law of 1998 for the current situation, as it leaves fuel price adjustments in the hands of industry players.

‘It is the main culprit. Even slight price adjustments cause serious problems because half the population is poor,’ Leyco told Al Jazeera. Faced with the likelihood of more strikes and growing public dissatisfaction, Marcos Jr separately signed a law on Wednesday allowing him to temporarily suspend excise taxes on fuel when crude oil exceeds a certain price per barrel for a month.

Opposition Kabataan Partylist lawmaker Renee Co asked, ‘Why not include the VAT and remove it with the excise taxes permanently?’ Co told Al Jazeera. ‘Both forms of taxation are regressive because they place the weight of commodity expenses on the people.’

Co, along with other opposition lawmakers in Congress, had previously filed a bill to cancel both taxes and on Wednesday filed a separate bill for state regulation of the oil industry. The situation highlights the urgent need for broad policy reforms to address the structural issues in the Philippine energy sector.