Philippines to host ‘barebones’ ASEAN Summit, focus on oil crisis response

MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday,  March 27, that the planned Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Cebu province will be pushing through and will focus solely on how the bloc plans to response to the “shocks” triggered by hostilities in the Middle East. 

In a chance interview with reporters on Friday, March 27, Marcos said the “barebones” summit will focus solely on the effects of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran, including oil supply, food supply and prices, and migrant workers’ welfare.

“We have consulted with our counterparts, the 10 other member states and the question that I asked them is very simply, would you prefer because everybody is busy with the crisis going on because of the war in the Middle [and] would you like to postpone the ASEAN Summit?… The consensus that we came to is it that it is precisely now that we must coordinate our efforts,” recalled Marcos. 

Cebu province is set to host from May 7 to 8 the first ASEAN Summit of the year, or the first time the bloc’s leaders will meet in person with the Philippines as chair. In January, Cebu province hosted both ASEAN foreign and tourism ministers for their respective meetings.

“Ang kailangan talaga sa panahong ito ay mag-usap kami na mga leader (What is needed most at this times is for leaders to meet)…. What do we do to help each other…. What is the ASEAN position regarding the shocks that are coming our way,” he said. 

On March 24, Marcos placed the Philippines under a state of national energy emergency, the first and only of its kind in the region. Asia is among the regions most affected by the effects of the US and Israel’s war on Iran and the subsequent slowdown of the oil-producing Middle East’s energy operations. Manila sources most of its energy needs from the Middle East.

Marcos said the bloc had yet to discuss if the 49th ASEAN Summit, slated to take place in Manila in November, will push through as well. The second summit brings together ASEAN leaders and leaders of ts dialogue partners such as Japan, the US, Australia, China, and India, among others. During that second summit of the year, ASEAN hosts the East Asia Summit, considered the largest leaders-level forum in the region. 

The Philippines, as ASEAN host, was scheduled to host over 600 meetings, from working group to local meetings, throughout 2026. Among those meetings are ongoing negotiations for a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea between ASEAN and China. Meetings for the COC happen separately from the ASEAN Summit or any other high-level meeting.

A COC meeting followed the foreign ministers’ meeting in Cebu in January. Subsequent COC meetings have been held since, hosted alternately by Beijing and other ASEAN members. – Rappler.com