President Ferdinand Marcos said Friday that an ASEAN summit the Philippines will host in May will be a streamlined affair, with a focus on how best to handle the economic shocks of the Mideast war. Marcos said he had consulted with other ASEAN members about the idea of postponing the summit in the face of an energy crisis that has struck the region hard before determining to press forward. "It is a bare bones ASEAN Summit... We will be talking about three main subjects -- about the supply of petroleum and petroleum products, about the supply ... and the price of food, and migrant workers," Marcos said. Marcos declared on Tuesday a state of "national energy emergency", citing risks to the Philippines' domestic fuel supply created by the war. The war has also affected millions of guest workers from ASEAN states who are living in countries caught in the crossfire.

Source: The Standard March 27, 2026 13:53 UTC