On March 24, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order 110, declaring a State of National Energy Emergency that would remain in effect through the end of 2026. The Philippines became the first country in the world to formally declare such an emergency in response to the Strait of Hormuz crisis [1]. The declaration was not a preemptive measure. It was an acknowledgment of a crisis already underway.

As we noted in our earlier reporting on Philippine fuel reserves, the country's crude oil stockpile was estimated to last through approximately early June, depending on consumption rates and the success of emergency procurement efforts [2]. The Department of Energy assured a Senate panel that the situation would not lead to power outages, but the assurance came on the same day that brownouts were already rolling through parts of the archipelago [3].

The arithmetic was stark. The Philippines imports virtually all of its crude oil. Approximately 70 percent of those imports historically transited the Strait of Hormuz or originated in Middle Eastern producers whose shipments were now disrupted [4]. With tanker traffic through the Strait down roughly 70 percent since Iran's March 2 closure declaration, the supply pipeline had constricted to a fraction of its normal capacity.

The government's response was multifaceted and escalating. Public offices shifted to a four-day work week. Agencies were ordered to cut fuel consumption and air conditioning [5]. Thousands of transport and ride-hailing drivers staged a nationwide protest on March 26-27, opposing surging fuel costs that had made their livelihoods untenable [6]. The peso had breached the 60-per-dollar level for the first time in history, a currency shock that made already expensive imported fuel even more costly [7].

CNN reported that the Philippines was part of a broader pattern of "energy austerity" sweeping Asia, where countries from India to Pakistan were diverting fuel from industrial to household use [8]. But the Philippines was uniquely vulnerable. It had no strategic petroleum reserve comparable to those maintained by the United States or Japan. Its domestic energy production was minimal. Its island geography made fuel distribution logistically complex even under normal conditions.

The brownouts were not hypothetical. They were happening. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines was working to stabilize supply, but the math was unfavorable. Every day that the Hormuz crisis continued subtracted from an inventory that was already measured in weeks, not months.

An opinion piece in the Philippine Daily Inquirer captured the stakes: "April 2026 may mark the beginning of the most severe crisis this nation has faced in decades. Without immediate and decisive action, without the willingness to confront uncomfortable truths, the lights may not just flicker. They may go out" [9].

The lights had not gone out. But they were flickering.

-- David Chen, Manila