Senator Loren Legarda on Tuesday, March 24, urged government agencies to stop downplaying the country’s economic challenges and formally recognize them as a “crisis” to enable swift and decisive action.
“Huwag na tayo lost in translation or nagmamaang-maangan na may krisis,” Legarda said during the Senate’s Proactive Response and Oversight for Timely and Effective Crisis Strategy (PROTECT) Committee hearing.
“Until we define it as a crisis, we will not act in record time to save our people,” she stressed.
Legarda pressed agencies to disclose how much funding remains available under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), including continuing appropriations that can be tapped immediately, as well as allocations in the 2026 national budget that could be redirected to crisis response. She stressed that these funds must go beyond “paper plans” and translate into concrete assistance for vulnerable sectors such as farmers, fisherfolk, and transport workers.
She further called on agencies to identify unused or non-essential budget items, including expenditures she described as “luho” such as travel and social events, and realign them toward aid for those most affected.
Legarda also challenged key economic agencies — including the Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI), Energy (DOE), and Finance (DOF), as well as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Energy Regulatory Commis sion (ERC) — to outline concrete measures to lower commodity prices and address tax burdens, including the imposition of value-added tax (VAT) on certain items.
Her call underscored the urgency of proactive government action amid rising fuel costs, food prices, and external pressures such as Middle East tensions, warning that delay in crisis recognition would leave Filipinos more vulnerable.
Senator JV Ejercito agreed with his colleagues that the country is already in a crisis. “Hindi na po normal ang sitwasyon (The situation right now is not normal) and what we have to do right now is do the preparations just like during the Covid [pandemic] when there was uncertainty,” he said.
Despite rising oil prices, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro said the government does not consider the situation an oil crisis in the Philippines, citing the assessment of Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Sharon Garin that the country has sufficient fuel supply.
The PROTECT panel is conducting the hearing to assess government readiness and response measures amid mounting economic pressures and their impact on households nationwide. (Dhel Nazario)
