Close price monitoring needed for declaring national state of emergency —Sen. Gatchalian

A thorough monitoring of commodity prices is needed before declaring a national state of emergency amid the climbing fuel prices, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Sunday.

“Halos tatlong linggo na itong pagtaas ng presyo ng langis. Magkakaroon kasi ito ng 2nd-round effects o spillover effects sa pagkain at suweldo. Kailangan i-monitor mabuti ang sitwasyon,” Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, told Super Radyo dzBB.

(It’s been almost three weeks of rising oil prices. This could lead to second-round or spillover effects on food prices and wages. The situation needs to be closely monitored.)

“As to declare the state of emergency, i-monitor muna natin 'yung movement ng presyo,” he added.

(To declare the state of emergency, let us first monitor the movement of commodities.)

The senator further said that it is important to track the inflation in the country.

Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that inflation continued to accelerate in February, hitting the fastest pace in 13 months due mainly to higher prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, housing, and utilities.

Consumer prices rose by 2.4% in February, faster than the 2.0% in January, and 2.1% in February 2025—the fastest pace in 12 months.

“The uptrend in the overall inflation in February 2026 was primarily influenced by the faster annual increment in the index of the heavily weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 1.8%,” the PSA said, with the index holding a 29.5% share of the overall inflation rate.

According to an industry source, the estimated adjustments in fuel prices per liter for next week are the following:

• Diesel - P16.50 to P17.50 per liter
• Gasoline - P7.50 to P8.50 per liter

The Department of Energy (DOE) previously announced the following fuel price adjustments for March 17 to March 23 week:

Diesel - P20.40 to P23.90 per liter
Gasoline - P12.90 to P16.60 per liter
Kerosene - P6.90 to P8.90 per liter

Gatchalian believed that the government should have more teeth in overseeing the prices of petroleum products.

“Kailangan magkaroon ng unbundling para malaman ng gobyerno kung magkano ang presyo ng binibili,” Gatchalian said.

(An unbundling is needed so that the government can determine how much is actually being paid.)

The Senate and House of Representatives, meanwhile, approved the measure granting emergency powers to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to suspend or reduce excise tax when the average Dubai crude oil price exceeds $80 per barrel for one month.

Despite certifying it a urgent, Marcos said exercising the emergency power to temporarily suspend or reduce the oil excise tax is yet to be determined since it is a “very complicated calculation.”  

“Depends on the trends. We have to watch the trends on oil prices. We just have to look. It's very hard to say because it's all speculation. We don't know how long this will last for,'' Marcos said. —KG, GMA Integrated News