{"id":1396464,"date":"2022-03-23T13:30:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T17:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1396464"},"modified":"2022-03-23T13:30:24","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T17:30:24","slug":"philippines-duterte-threatens-to-ration-gasoline-blames-crisis-on-stupid-ukraine-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/philippines-duterte-threatens-to-ration-gasoline-blames-crisis-on-stupid-ukraine-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines: Duterte Threatens to Ration Gasoline, Blames Crisis on &#039;Stupid&#039; Ukraine War"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fphilippines-duterte-threatens-to-ration-gasoline-blames-crisis-on-stupid-ukraine-war%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1396464&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte reminisced on Tuesday about days in his youth when the country endured gasoline rationing, suggested he may impose such a policy due to skyrocketing prices and low demand he blamed on the \u201cstupid war\u201d between Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Duterte also blamed the Russia-Ukraine war for \u201cinflation everywhere\u201d and urged the two countries to end the conflict while insisting the Philippines should remain neutral.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced a full-scale military assault on Ukraine in late February, allegedly a campaign to \u201cde-Nazify\u201d the country by toppling the democratically elected government of President Volodymyr Zelensky. The campaign followed eight years of war that began with Russia invading and colonizing Ukraine\u2019s Crimean peninsula and aiding separatist proxy groups in Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donbas region.<\/p>\n<p>Zelensky has refused Moscow\u2019s demands to end the attack \u2013 including the full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2022\/02\/24\/russia-issues-ukraine-terms-surrender-give-up-your-weapons\/\">removal<\/a> of all weapons from Ukrainian territory \u2013 and denied accusations of being a \u201cneo-Nazi,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/02\/24\/how-can-i-be-a-nazi-zelenskyys-direct-appeal-to-russians-before-ukraine-attack\/\">observing<\/a> that his family fought the Nazis in World War II and that he is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n<p>The Philippines is a close ally of the United States, sharing a military treaty responsibility with Washington. America has backed Ukraine in the war through weapons supplies, but Manila has not followed. Duterte referred to Putin as a \u201cpersonal friend\u201d on Tuesday and expressed concern for Putin himself amid the war.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_11580762\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2019\/10\/GettyImages-687427652.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte during a meeting in Moscow late on May 23, 2017. (MAXIM SHEMETOV\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere is inflation everywhere because there is a conflict. And you spend more than what you can really afford would spell (a higher) inflation for everybody,\u201d Duterte <a href=\"https:\/\/www.philstar.com\/headlines\/2022\/03\/23\/2169245\/duterte-ukraine-crisis-stupid-war\">said<\/a> in a pre-recorded televised speech, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.philstar.com\/headlines\/2022\/03\/23\/2169245\/duterte-ukraine-crisis-stupid-war\"><em>Philippine Star<\/em><\/a>. \u201cWe have to watch the global market factors and I hope that this war, I said I called it a \u2018stupid war,\u2019 they should stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey (Ukraine and Russia) are fighting, it has affected everything, the supply of oil, it would be difficult if the demand is high and the supply (is limited),\u201d Duterte claimed.\u00a0\u201cFor those oil-producing countries, if they do not increase the output of their oil, there (would) be a crisis again \u2026 because they imposed sanctions on Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Much of the West, including America, has imposed sanctions on the Russian oil industry.<\/p>\n<p>Duterte went on to recommend more citizens use public transportation to reduce gasoline consumption and warned that he might resort to rationing fuel.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSo there was a time when all people were given coupons to buy gasoline, and it was limited \u2026 We might reach that situation. I hope it will not reduce the oil (supply) because there is war,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n<p>In other remarks this week, Duterte lamented the personal toll Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine may be taking on the Russian strongman.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWith regard to Russia, I\u2019m hurting, Putin is my friend. He\u2019s a personal friend,\u201d Duterte <a href=\"https:\/\/www.philstar.com\/headlines\/2022\/03\/19\/2168345\/duterte-philippines-must-stay-neutral-ukraine-conflict\">said<\/a>\u00a0during an event to inaugurate a new government facility that did not have any overt relationship to the Ukraine war. Putin reportedly added that he was \u201cpained\u201d by what Putin is going through. He also insisted the Philippines should not take sides because both the American and Russian militaries keep a presence close to the Philippines, suggesting they may attack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet us not intervene for now because Russia and America have several assets in the sea. They are just there. There are about more than 800 submarines roaming around, including (in) our country,\u201d Duterte asserted.<\/p>\n<p>The Philippine Department of Energy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doe.gov.ph\/sites\/default\/files\/pdf\/downstream_oil\/Oil%20Supply%20and%20Demand%20Report%201H%202021.pdf?withshield=1\">documents<\/a> that the majority of its imported crude oil comes from the Middle East. Most of its imported refined petroleum <a href=\"https:\/\/oec.world\/en\/profile\/bilateral-product\/refined-petroleum\/reporter\/phl\">comes<\/a> from China, South Korea, and Taiwan. Duterte did not elaborate on his remarks regarding how Ukraine is affecting the country\u2019s oil supply and does not note that neither Russia nor Ukraine appears at the top of the lists of gasoline importers to the Philippines. The absence of a major supplier on the global market, however, would force importing countries to compete to purchase fewer resources, driving prices up for all suppliers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>On Monday, Philippine\u00a0Energy Undersecretary Gerardo Erquiza similarly <a href=\"https:\/\/news.abs-cbn.com\/business\/03\/22\/22\/continuous-oil-price-rollbacks-not-certain-experts\">equated<\/a> the war to rising gas prices in the country during a public briefing but added worsening coronavirus spread in China and an earthquake in Japan to factors contributing to the situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe pandemic worsened in China which resulted in new lockdowns. So economic activity weakened in China. There was an earthquake in Japan, the 2 refineries there are now running,\u201d Erquiza <a href=\"https:\/\/news.abs-cbn.com\/business\/03\/22\/22\/continuous-oil-price-rollbacks-not-certain-experts\">explained<\/a> in Filipino, according to a translation by ABS-CBN. \u201cThings were OK last week, but now we were told nothing much has happened, so we do not know how this will affect oil prices this coming week.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Philippines has experienced surging gasoline prices all month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmanetwork.com\/news\/money\/economy\/824298\/diesel-may-rise-by-p12-liter-gasoline-by-p8-liter-next-week-industry-source\/story\/\">hitting<\/a> a year-long national high on March 8.\u00a0Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said at the time that global oil prices, which are directly affected by the availability of Russian oil, could surge as high as $200 a barrel, affecting prices at home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe retail prices of fuel will depend on how far the prices will go up in the world market. Currently, the average retail price is at P70 [$1.34] per liter [about $5.07 a gallon],\u201d Cusi said. \u201cIf the world price hits $200 per barrel, it may result in an average retail fuel price of P100 [$1.91] per liter [about $7.23 a gallon]. Hopefully, it will not reach that point for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are not saying that will happen immediately. If everybody is getting from the same source, the price will really increase. We, on the other hand, are looking at how far we can (cope), but we don\u2019t know how long,\u201d Cusi warned.<\/p>\n<p>The Duterte administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rappler.com\/nation\/duterte-approves-monthly-subsidy-poor-households-fuel-price-hikes\/\">approved<\/a> a monthly subsidy of 200 pesos ($3.82) for poor households last week to offset the increase in gasoline prices. Fuel companies also independently <a href=\"https:\/\/news.abs-cbn.com\/business\/03\/21\/22\/fuel-firms-to-cut-prices-diesel-down-by-p1145\">implemented<\/a> a discount in fuel prices for the first time this week, partially in response to concerns of economic devastation.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Frances Martel on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1648119860490000&#038;usg=AOvVaw3qazzf2-Idylj4rkHk1nNX\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1648119860490000&#038;usg=AOvVaw2zh1TgxtkEYKTcjMAS3Xex\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte reminisced on Tuesday about days in his youth when the country endured gasoline rationing, suggested he may impose such a policy due to skyrocketing prices and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1396464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1396464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1396464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}