State of national energy emergency shouldn't cause panic—Marcos
After declaring a state of national energy emergency, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. holds a press conference at the Malacañan Palace on March 25, 2026. (Betheena Unite)
Declaring a state of national energy emergency should not be a cause of alarm as it does not place the country in a general emergency.
President Marcos said this as he justified his move to declare an energy emergency.
In his public address on Wednesday, March 25, a day after signing Executive Order No. 110, which declared a state of national energy emergency in light of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Marcos said the declaration was clear —it is only limited to the energy sector.
"Malinaw ang salitang ginamit natin, 'energy emergency.' Hindi ito emergency ng pangkalahatan (The word we used was clear: energy emergency. This is not a general emergency). It is a very specific and a very precise emergency. It is an emergency of the energy sector, the supply of energy and the prices of energy," Marcos said.
"Dahil ang pinagmulan ng problema ay ang suplay at ang presyo ang enerhiya, at yun ang kailangan naming tugunan na diretso, na direkta agad (Because the source of the problem is energy supply and prices, and that is what we need to directly address)," Marcos added.
"That is why we declared not a general state of emergency but a state of energy emergency. I would like to stress that point that it is the energy sector that we need to declare as an emergency sector because of the war in the Middle East," the President further said.
So, the Chief Executive made it clear that his declaration should not be a cause of panic to the public.
He further explained that the energy emergency declaration is a "precautionary tool so that we are ready for whatever comes next," exercising all options that have been available to the country.
"I want to assure everyone that this does not mean that we should panic. It means that we are doing everything that we can to assess and to alleviate the situation," Marcos said.
"The reason that I declared an energy emergency is to provide government with more options should the need arise," Marcos added.
It gives the government the authority to act more quickly, purchase oil without going through lengthy procedures, and align all agencies toward a single direction, Marcos also said.
Aside from the declaration, EO No. 110 also adopts the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) as the government’s coordinated, whole-of-government response framework.