Today is April Fools’ Day, and how I wish the crisis raging around us was just some elaborate joke we can move on from.

As a natural optimist (or perhaps a fool), however, I can glimpse a silver lining in all this. 

It is my fervent hope that this global supply crunch caused by the US-Israel war on Iran is making Filipinos think long and hard about leadership. Every crisis is a floodlight exposing the ability of our elected officials to lead us. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said this crisis is “not of our own making.” But the harsh truth is that Marcos, and presidents before him, contributed to the vulnerability of our country to fuel supply shocks through a lack of leadership.

As researcher Jodesz Gavilan showed in this piece, it was the President’s father himself who, having gone through similar crises in the 1970s, declared there was a “compelling need” to secure a stable supply of petroleum products, and secure indigenous or domestic energy sources, rather than be overly reliant on imported fuel.

Across administrations, we’ve had various opportunities to diversify our sources of fuel. Thankfully, we’ve managed to legislate policies on renewable energy. But we dropped the ball on that one, with the share of RE in our energy mix dwindling, and obstacles remaining in RE adoption. 

The lack of leadership, then and now, leave us with an economy as vulnerable to oil supply shocks as it was in 1973 and 1979. And so, looking ahead, past the day the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, and expecting another Middle East crisis to stretch its fingers to our part of the world, we need a leader who can act in advance.

We need a leader who looks at the bare facts of our economic vulnerabilities and does something about it even before a crisis hits. I’m, of course, looking at 2028, when we have a chance to choose who that leader will be.

Knowing another war could be just around the corner, what are the characteristics of a Philippine president who would be able to act preemptively instead of merely reactively? What kind of previous experience or expertise would this person have to have to prepare them to handle such an all-encompassing crisis? How would we want this person to make decisions? Based on what data, or whose advice?

I invite you to paint a picture in your mind of the leader we want in this crisis we are all suffering from. Keep adding to that picture as the months go by, and bring it with you on election day in May 2028.

It’s Holy Week after all, the perfect time for reflection about the state of our country and how it affects our individual lives, and communities.

LIVE UPDATES: Impact of Middle East crisis on the Philippines

The grim consequences of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran have been felt far and wide, including in the Philippines, a nation heavily dependent on the Middle East for oil.

DOE says Philippines’ fuel supply good for 50.9 days

‘Our supply gives us a level of assurance in the sense that we have a lead time to order more while we are consuming for the month of April,’ says Energy Secretary Sharon Garin.

[OPINION] Bowels of the earth, limitless energy source

With more than 20 active volcanoes and more than 40 potentially active volcanoes, the Philippines can develop geothermal energy as a major contributor to the national energy mix.

Energy crisis raises concerns over Ligawasan Marsh exploration

Environmental watchdog Wetlands International warns that unregulated extraction could hurt one of the most biodiverse wetland systems in the country and increase flooding.

– Rappler.com

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