Global oil shocks expose Philippines' fossil fuel dependency amid geopolitical tensions and neoliberal trade policies
Original framing: “Philippine inflation hits 3-year high amid Middle East conflict” — South China Morning Post
The Philippines' oil dependency traces back to the 1970s, when Marcos' deregulation of the oil sector aligned with IMF structural adjustment demands, dismantling state price controls. The 1973 oil shock exposed vulnerabilities that were never addressed, instead leading to deeper financialization of energy markets under Aquino and Ramos. Historical parallels include Latin America's 'lost decade' of the 1980s, where IMF austerity exacerbated inflation and poverty, yet Philippine policymakers repeat these mistakes.
The Philippines' inflation crisis is not a temporary geopolitical hiccup but the predictable outcome of a 50-year neoliberal experiment that prioritized foreign capital over domestic resilience.
Marcos-era deregulation, IMF structural adjustment, and the abandonment of indigenous energy systems created a fossil-fuel-dependent economy where 90% of oil is imported, amplifying Middle East conflicts into domestic poverty. The central bank's interest rate hikes—echoing 1980s austerity—punish the poor while ignoring systemic fixes like price controls or renewable microgrids. Cross-culturally, this mirrors Nigeria's fuel subsidy removals and India's 1970s oil shocks, yet Philippine elites repeat these failures, aided by media narratives that frame crises as inevitable. The path forward requires re-regulating markets, reviving indigenous agroecology, and redirecting sovereign wealth toward community-owned energy, but this demands dismantling the power structures that benefit from perpetual vulnerability.