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When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order No. 110 on March 24, 2026, the Philippines became the first nation in the world to formally declare a state of national energy emergency as a direct consequence of the war in the Middle East. The declaration was not merely administrative, it was a signal that Manila's energy calculus, and the foreign policy that flows from it, had fundamentally shifted.
The executive order cited the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy corridor for global oil shipments, as disrupting the flow of petroleum products to international markets and constraining global fuel supply. As a net importer of petroleum products, the Philippines remains highly dependent on external sources of fuel supply and is therefore vulnerable to disruptions in global oil production and transportation. That vulnerability, long acknowledged but never fully addressed, has now become an acute national crisis.
The Philippines imports 98 per cent of its oil from the Middle East. As of March 20, 2026, the Department of Energy reported the country had an average of 45 days' supply of oil, down from 55 to 57 days when the war started a month earlier. By March 24, fuel prices were projected to rise sharply, with diesel exceeding ₱130 (NZ$3.73) per liter and gasoline surpassing ₱100 (NZ$2.87) per liter.
The domestic fallout was immediate. Transport unions and Philippine senators criticised the government's response to the crisis, accusing the Marcos administration of lacking a unified and coordinated action to mitigate the fallout from the surge in oil prices.
The federation of public transport associations, Piston, described the energy emergency declaration as a measure that deliberately ignored the structural roots of the fuel crisis, calling instead for the immediate suspension of excise and value-added taxes on petroleum products. As of March 27, 425 filling stations across the country had closed, out of 14,485 stations nationwide being monitored by the Philippine National Police.
With its buffer dwindling and its streets restless, Manila moved - fast, and in directions that would have seemed improbable only weeks before.
The Russian Gambit
A ship carrying more than 700,000 barrels of Russian crude oil arrived in the Philippines days after the country declared a national energy emergency over the Middle East war. The Sierra Leone-flagged Sara Sky, bearing high-quality crude from Russia's ESPO pipeline, arrived last week, with documents showing the consignee as Petron Corp, operator of the Philippines' sole oil refinery.
The purchase, which would have been unthinkable before longtime treaty ally the United States eased sanctions tied to Russia's war in Ukraine, came as the import-dependent archipelago scrambled to expand its options in a suddenly volatile oil market.
Purchasing Russian oil was made possible after the United States Treasury Department authorised the delivery and sale of Russian crude and petroleum products loaded onto ships between March 12 and April 11.
Marcos confirmed the Russian purchase was being explored, saying: "Russia is not a traditional supplier of crude oil to the Philippines or any energy supply, but we are exploring that as well." The government has since confirmed the cargo covers supply needs through to the end of June, a meaningful but time-limited buffer.
Ateneo de Manila University economist Ser Pena Reyes offered a measured assessment of the move. He described buying the Russian crude, equivalent to about two days of national demand, as a pragmatic move that might help stabilise prices in the short term, but said ongoing geopolitical volatility made Moscow a less attractive long-term partner. "Russia can be a useful supplementary supplier... but the Philippines will likely benefit more from a balanced approach, maintaining strong ties with traditional partners while gradually investing in
renewable energy and regional energy cooperation," he said.
Widening The Net
The Russian shipment is only one strand in a rapidly expanding diplomatic web. Marcos confirmed that talks are underway with India, Japan, South Korea, Brunei, and China to secure oil, saying: "We are talking to our trade partners like India, but we are also including other countries and are reaching out to China, Japan, Brunei and South Korea for possible supply arrangements."
Philippine Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, former chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, said at a forum in Makati that the emergency declaration had to be done to "trigger" bilateral agreements with countries that the Philippines does not normally purchase oil from, like Russia, Latin America, and Canada. He noted the Philippines needs to secure contracts beyond 60 days, roughly how long existing fuel inventories and buffers can cover demand.
In an unprecedented step, the Philippines also moved to open direct dialogue with Iran, the very country whose blockade of the Strait of Hormuz triggered the crisis. Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro is set to meet with Iranian Ambassador Yousef Esmaeil Zadeh to discuss the safe passage of Philippine-bound oil ships through the Strait of Hormuz, now effectively under Tehran's control. Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro confirmed that President Marcos personally issued that directive.
For a treaty ally of the United States, now at war with Iran, the optics of that conversation are not insignificant.
The China Question
Of all Manila's new diplomatic forays, none carries higher stakes, or more complex implications, than its overtures toward China on joint energy exploration in the South China Sea.
In a Bloomberg Television interview, Marcos said he was open to restarting talks with China on joint oil and gas development in contested parts of the South China Sea, saying the war in Iran and the subsequent oil supply shock could provide an "impetus for both sides to come to an agreement" after years of friction in disputed waters.
The Philippines and China subsequently convened back-to-back the 24th Foreign Ministry Consultations and the 11th Meeting of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea on March 27-28 in Quanzhou City, in China's Fujian province. Both sides made "initial exchanges on potential oil and gas cooperation," the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed.
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-Asia Media Centre
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