Energy crisis body scales back meetings to twice monthly

THE PHILIPPINES’ inter-agency body tasked to lead the government’s response to the Middle East crisis will scale back its meetings to bimonthly from weekly, the Palace said on Tuesday.

“President [Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.] sees that even though we are not meeting every week now, we can see that our Cabinet secretaries and other agencies are still working continuously to alleviate the impact of the crisis in the Middle East,” Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro told a news briefing in Filipino.

“So, it’s still ongoing — even though we are not meeting every week, the work is still ongoing.”

The Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport (UPLIFT) Committee, established under Executive Order No. 110 in March, is tasked to streamline the country’s response to a year-long national energy emergency. It focuses on securing energy, food and transport services.

The body’s next meeting is on May 19.

In a separate statement, Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto said he led Cabinet members in developing a faster and more organized response to the energy emergency.

Discussions ahead of UPLIFT’s next meeting centered on the expansion of the Fuel Subsidy Program to ensure adequate passenger transportation services, Mr. Recto said.

The government rolled out a P10-per-liter discount to all public utility jeepneys nationwide.

Over 2,000 gas stations are also offering discounts on public vehicles.

“The expansion of this program includes fuel subsidy for buses and delivery trucks, especially those transporting agricultural products and other necessities,” Mr. Recto’s office said in a statement in Filipino.

Support will also be rolled out for agriculture workers to ensure sufficient and affordable food.

The President also suspended excise taxes on liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene last month to ease the burden on households.

He has yet to do the same for diesel and gasoline after asking Congress for emergency powers. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana