Ramiro Santos used to take his fishing boat out five days a week. Now, with diesel at ₱150 per liter in his coastal town outside Manila, he goes out twice — maybe three times if he's lucky. The 52-year-old fisherman isn't alone in making these calculations. Across the Philippines, workers whose livelihoods depend on fuel are cutting back, staying home, watching their incomes shrink as they wait for government relief that many say still hasn't reached them.

It's been six weeks since escalating conflict in the Middle East sent global oil prices surging. Six weeks of rising costs at the pump, at the market, in the daily math of survival. And six weeks of promises from Manila that help is coming.

Senator Loren Legarda isn't buying the timeline. On Monday, she renewed her call for the government to immediately suspend excise taxes and value-added tax on diesel and gasoline, saying that targeted financial aid — the government's preferred approach — is moving too slowly while workers like Santos make impossible choices about whether they can afford to work.

The Gap Between Policy and Paychecks

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced last week that the government would suspend excise taxes on LPG and kerosene, and that potential tax relief on diesel and gasoline would be discussed at the next UPLIFT meeting. For Legarda, the gap between announcement and action represents a fundamental disconnect between policymakers and the Filipinos bearing the immediate weight of the crisis.

"The suspension of taxes on LPG and kerosene is a big help because it directly affects households and the food service sector," Legarda said in a statement, according to the Manila Bulletin. "But it is surprising that the main demand of the people, diesel and gasoline, which are used by farmers, drivers, and fishermen to earn a living, is still not being addressed."

The numbers tell part of the story. At current prices of ₱150 per liter for diesel, removing the ₱6 excise tax and 12% VAT would save consumers approximately ₱22.07 per liter, bringing the price down to ₱128. For gasoline at ₱90 per liter, eliminating the ₱10 excise tax and VAT would reduce the price by roughly ₱19.64, to ₱70 per liter.

For workers operating on thin margins, those differences aren't academic. They're the difference between going to work and staying home.

Why Direct Relief Beats Bureaucracy

The debate in Manila has centered on whether fuel tax cuts or targeted financial assistance represents the more efficient response. Government officials have argued that direct payments to vulnerable populations avoid subsidizing fuel consumption by wealthier Filipinos who can afford higher prices.

Legarda rejects this framing entirely. She points to what she calls the "slow pace of government processes" and the structural problems that emerge when assistance must flow through multiple agencies, approval chains, and beneficiary lists before reaching the people who need it.

"The government is slow. We have seen it, it has been several weeks, and the aid is still not felt," she said. "When the petroleum tax, like the VAT, goes through the government, it will go back to the bureaucracy, be passed around by several signatures, go from one agency to another, the list of beneficiaries is also incomplete."

Her proposed alternative — immediate tax suspension — would bypass these bottlenecks entirely. Price reductions would appear at the pump within days, felt immediately by everyone who buys fuel, without waiting for enrollment, verification, or distribution.

The senator also pushed back against arguments that fuel tax cuts disproportionately benefit the wealthy, noting that fuel costs ripple through the entire economy in ways that hit vulnerable workers first and hardest. "Fishermen, farmers, drivers, they all depend on the price of crude oil to make a living," she said. "When prices are high, they are the first to be hit, no one goes out to sea, and no one brings their produce to the market."

The Broader Economic Toll

Beyond individual workers, Legarda warned of cascading economic consequences that policy discussions often overlook. Sustained high fuel prices don't just reduce incomes — they eliminate jobs, shutter businesses, and push near-poor households back into poverty.

When fishermen can't afford to go out, fish doesn't reach markets. When farmers can't transport produce, food prices rise and crops spoil. When jeepney drivers cut routes, workers can't get to their jobs. The connections between fuel prices and economic stability run deep in an archipelago nation where transportation costs shape everything from food security to employment access.

"There will come a point when theoretical discussions are no longer enough," Legarda said. "We need to respond to what Filipinos are actually experiencing today."

Funding the Relief

Critics of fuel tax suspension often cite fiscal concerns, arguing that the government can't afford to lose revenue during a crisis. Legarda has anticipated this objection in her proposed Bayanihan 3 bill, which includes provisions to fund temporary tax relief without additional borrowing.

The bill directs government agencies to discontinue non-essential expenditures and declare as savings any funds tied to projects lacking feasibility studies, clear implementation plans, or exceeding agency capacity. Additional fiscal space would come from reducing or suspending non-essential travel, events, capacity-building activities, and renovations, while shifting more government transactions to digital platforms to cut spending on supplies and utilities.

The proposal also calls for a temporary freeze on hiring and creation of new offices, with exceptions for critical positions in health and education — particularly teachers and health workers.

"We do not need to incur additional debt to fund temporary tax relief," Legarda said, pushing back against speculation that Bayanihan 3 lacks funding sources.

Waiting for Relief

For workers like Ramiro Santos, these policy debates play out in daily decisions about risk and reward. Each trip to sea costs more in fuel. Each day at the dock means no income. The calculations have gotten harder as weeks have passed without the promised relief materializing.

The Philippine experience mirrors patterns seen in other countries facing sudden fuel price shocks — initial government promises followed by complex debates about implementation while workers absorb the immediate costs. The question isn't whether relief will come, but whether it will arrive in time to prevent lasting damage to livelihoods already strained by years of economic disruption.

Six weeks into the crisis, with diesel still at ₱150 per liter and aid programs still in planning stages, that timing looks increasingly uncertain. For the fishermen, farmers, and drivers who power the Philippine economy from the bottom up, the wait continues.