President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. says he'll employ a tactic of his late father, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., in order to address the current fuel price crisis.
This tactic involves using diplomacy to essentially get whatever advantage the Philippines can from other countries in terms of procuring petroleum products from them.
"Malaking problema itong nangyari na nagtataasan ang presyo ng lahat ng petroleum products (The soaring prices of all petroleum products have caused a huge problem). Wala naman tayong magawa (But we can't do anything), we just have to take whatever price we're getting," Marcos told reporters during a press briefing Monday afternoon, June 20.
"But hopefully...I remember in the last oil crisis, 1973 oil crisis, napakiusapan naman natin ang mga kaibigan natin sa (we were able to convince our friends in) oil-producing countries na medyo pagbigyan tayo (to give us some leeway) in terms of the credit, in terms of the payment period and things like that. In fact, we will pursue that again, sa diplomacy side naman yun (that's on the diplomacy side)," he said.
Incidentally, ever since the elections were finished and it was clear that he had won the presidential race, Marcos has kept himself busy by hosting courtesy calls with various foreign diplomats.
He said he has already begun to explore possible deals with these envoys. "Lahat nung kausap kong mga ambassador inumpisahan ko na (I've already started it with the ambassadors that I've been talking to)."
"Sinasabi , baka mayroon tayong pwede pag-usapan (I ask them, maybe we can have talks) in terms of...all of them who have supply of gas, who have supply of oil, I already opened the discussion with them dahil (because) we have to explore na lahat, we have to explore everyone," he noted.
The envoys from South Africa and Nigeria are examples of diplomats that Marcos recently spoke to on the subject of petroleum product procurement or development.
Marcos Sr. served as Philippine president from 1965 to 1986.