Benise Balaoing

Haze envelops the skyline as seen from Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on April 13, 2026, attributed to the Navotas sanitary landfill fire reported over the weekend. The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) issued a health advisory  on Saturday urging the public to stay indoors or wear N95 masks to protect themselves from potentially harmful air pollutants triggered by the incident.
Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

HAZE

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177915571583420260519020548_9b30dc367bf47bb77e938a9d0683db83155bd96e67a6e53c5ad922a238dc7965.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Haze envelops the skyline as seen from Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on April 13, 2026, attributed to the Navotas sanitary landfill fire reported over the weekend. The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) issued a health advisory  on Saturday urging the public to stay indoors or wear N95 masks to protect themselves from potentially harmful air pollutants triggered by the incident. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said that the Philippines is “concerned about stagflation,” as the country continues to reel from the effects of oil price shocks stemming from supply chain disruptions months after US-Israeli forces launched attacks against Iran. </p><p>Stagflation is when a country’s gross domestic product stagnates, but inflation continues to increase, Marcos Jr. told reporters in Malacañang. </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/5/7/gdp-growth-skids-to-2-8-percent-in-first-quarter-of-2026-1007" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">GDP growth skids to 2.8 percent in first quarter of 2026</a></div><p>“To the economy, the concern that we have is the concern about stagflation… so this is what we have been trying to control,” the President said, noting that his administration is keen on taming food prices. </p><p>&quot;Inflation, for example, we have nothing. We cannot do anything, and so they will be what they will be. However, food prices, which are comprised of large parts, food prices is something that we can do something about,” he said. </p><p>Earlier this month, Marcos placed a P50 per kilo price cap on imported rice as inflation in the country quickened to 7.2 percent in April from 4.1 percent in March, while growth in the first quarter of 2026 fell to 2.8 percent from 3 percent in the last quarter of 2025. </p><p>“In the last two and a half months, we have been able to keep basic commodities, basic food commodities, down to the same price,” he said. </p><p>&quot;But it&#x27;s come to the point where the producers, the suppliers are feeling the pinch and they have asked for permission to raise the prices of the non-critical food items so we cannot deny them that this is the fact, that they have to adjust to the new reality that we&#x27;re all facing,” he said. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>10 PERCENT DECREASE IN GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS</strong> </div><div><br/></div><p>While the Philippine government continues to fund cash assistance and transport contracting programs to buoy the income of indigent Filipinos, Marcos has also ordered executive agencies to decrease their spending by at least 10 percent. </p><p>“We have a total economic mandate that as much as possible, let us find that money wherever and in other places, such as in our operating, the government&#x27;s operating expenses,” the President told reporters. </p><p>“I put out an instruction saying that we have to see a 10 percent decrease in everyone&#x27;s total, we call it MOOP, which is maintenance, occupation, etc. that we have to put down, all the government agencies have to put down that number, at least 10% if not more,” he said. </p><p>Marcos remained optimistic that the Philippines’ growth would “improve this quarter and certainly in the next half of this year,” underscoring a the administration is “still continuing to see marked interest in investment in Philippines.” </p><p>&quot;This is because of the policies that we adopted, the incentives that we put out for investors,” he said. </p><p>The government has also been supporting the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises, which make up 95 percent of businesses in the Philippines, the President said. </p><p>“We have to find the new ways of doing business. We have to find new ways of encouraging investment. We have to find new ways of supporting MSMEs,” he said. </p><p>“So if we keep those sectors strong, I&#x27;m confident that although we will feel the effects of the oil crisis, I think that we will be able to mitigate many of the effects,” he said. </p><p>&quot;So slowly we can see the way through this. We will recover through this.” </p><p>The World Bank earlier forecast that Philippine growth in 2026 will be at 4.6 percent, far lower than the 6 to 7 percent growth target the administration expects by the end of Marcos’ term in 2028. </p><p>Aside from oil supply woes, World Bank also cited “a significantly lower infrastructure budget in 2026 is expected to weigh on public investment.” </p><p>Despite these, Marcos claimed that “when you remove all fuel and food” the prices of other commodities in the country “are still in reasonable numbers.” </p><p>“It&#x27;s a deep hole if you fall into it. It&#x27;s very, very hard to come back out so we said, ‘Let&#x27;s just keep the machine, the economic machine running.’” </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K0QVoy-0NjI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said that the Philippines is “concerned about stagflation." Stagflation is when a country’s gross domestic product stagnates, but inflation continues to increase.</p>

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said that the Philippines is “concerned about stagflation." Stagflation is when a country’s gross domestic product stagnates, but inflation continues to increase.

PH ‘concerned about stagflation’ as oil price shock effects persist—Marcos

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PH ‘concerned about stagflation’ as oil price shock effects persist—Marcos

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 19, 2026 10:00 AM PHT

Read More:

stagflation

inflation

GDP

economic growth

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