‘Leverage ASEAN chairship to promote regional energy security’MANILA, Philippines — Energy Secretary Sharon Garin is urging the government to leverage the Philippines’ chairship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year to promote regional energy security in light of the global oil crisis. “It’s not really predictable in the sense that whatever happens with the rest of the world that we’re not involved in, the Philippines is affected and the ASEAN region is affected,” she stressed. In the event of fuel shortages, though, the Philippines can activate the ASEAN Petroleum Security Agreement, signed in Cha-am, Thailand, in 2009. It builds on the ASEAN Energy Cooperation and ASEAN Petroleum Security Agreement, inked in Manila in 1986. Meanwhile, Bayan Muna, through its chairman Neri Colmenares, submitted a letter to Garin asking the Energy Department to oblige oil companies to unbundle the costs of their fuel products.

Source: Philippine Star March 12, 2026 16:33 UTC