Shiela Guavara



President Arroyo will not seek emergency powers to address the oil and food price problems besetting the country for now "because the situation is still manageable," Malacañang stressed yesterday.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the government has enough resources to mitigate the impact of the soaring food and oil costs on the people and the economy, without resorting to emergency powers.

Bunye also expressed confidence that the country could weather the high oil and food price regime due to its strong economic fundamentals, adding that the government has started to bring targeted relief to the vulnerable sectors such as rice and electricity subsidies.

"I believe the situation is manageable. We have explained before we are better positioned because of our macro fundamentals to withstand these external shocks," he said in a news conference.

Bunye shrugged off speculations of emergency powers that stemmed from the Executive Order (EO) 728 creating the National Food and Energy Council (NFEC) that would craft and monitor policies and programs to ensure sufficient and affordable food and energy supply in the country.

Under the EO, the council will advise the President and Congress if and when the exercise of emergency presidential powers would be required to address food and energy problems.

"While that provision is indeed inserted as Section 6 of the EO, everything will have to be deliberated upon. It will depend on the actual situation obtained at a particular time," Bunye clarified.

"Let me emphasize that the recommendation will be made not only to the President but also to Congress," he added.

The secretary said it is up to the high-level policy making body to determine the circumstances that would warrant the use of emergency powers of the President.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol said the new council, which will be chaired by the President with National Economic and Development Authority(NEDA) Secretary-General Augusto Santos as vice chairman, is "not a groundwork for the President to have emergency powers."€

"It’s just an advisory council. The President just doesn’t want to decide unilaterally. She prefers to get the advice of this council," Apostol said.

Apostol branded as "imagination" speculations that the creation of the new council was a prelude to emergency rule.

Meanwhile, Bunye said the country’s "soaring inflation rate does not yet justify the utilization of presidential emergency powers to address the situation."

Bunye said the inflation rate, which reached 9 percent, was "imported" due to the high fuel and food prices in the world market. "It’s€not only the Philippines that has been affected. The high prices will likewise impact on other countries, especially our neighbors," he said.

Bunye assured that the government has taken short, medium, and long term steps to cushion the impact of high prices on the people and the economy.

He cited several programs recently launched by the President such as the diesel, electricity, and rice subsidies and student assistance projects, that would provide targeted assistance to the sectors hardest hit by the high prices.

Bunye said the next cabinet meeting on Tuesday, June 10, will center on efforts to reduce electricity costs in the country.