Marcos urges gov't officers, public: Commute, do carpooling to save fuel
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (Photo courtesy of PCO)
Government officers and the public were encouraged by President Marcos to save energy by using public transportation and carpooling amid expected oil supply disruption caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
In a press conference on Tuesday, March 3, Marcos has appealed to private car owners to do carpooling and refrain from doing "unnecessary travel," and opt with commuting.
"Yung mga unnecessary travel, yung mga carpooling, yung mga bagay-bagay na ganyan (The unnecessary travels, carpooling, these things). These are things that the general public can do," Marcos said when he brought up ways to conserve fuel and energy.
"We encourage the use of public transport, you know, private vehicles. Punuin naman ninyo yung sasakyan ninyo. Huwag yung iisang tao lang ang gumagamit (Make sure to fill your vehicles. Don’t have just one person using each car)," Marcos added.
According to the President, he has given instruction to all government offices to find ways to save on energy. The call, he said, also applies to the public.
"Maghanap tayo ng paraan upang mabawasan ang ating paggamit ng lahat ng mga sources of energy natin (Let us find ways to reduce our use of all our energy sources)," he said.
"Kagaya ng sabi ko, sapat naman ang supply natin. Ngunit baka sakali, ito ay kakailanganin nating gawin ito upang mabawasan nga ang pagbayad dahil tataas nga ang presyo (As I said, our supply is sufficient. However, we may need to do this in order to reduce our expenses, since prices will indeed increase)," he added.
"All of these things can come together. We will give further guidance in terms of that," he further said.
The Chief Executive said he has issued a directive to all the government offices to find ways to save energy in every way, but he will give further guidance.
He said he will make public service announcements to make suggestions to people of what they can do ro reduce their energy consumption.
On Tuesday, Marcos gave an assurance that the Philippines has ample supply of oil amid the Middle East conflict. He also bared plans to ask for an authority from the Congress to reduce excise tax on petroleum products should prices exceed $80 per barrel, and if the situation in the Middle East last for two months.