Trump stays popular in Philippines despite Iran war fuel crisis

Even as the Philippines thrashes through the throes of an energy crisis born of the Iran war, Filipinos themselves largely appear uninterested in blaming the man who started it.Fuel costs have rocketed across the archipelago since the United States and Israel first struck Iran on February 28, following the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz through which much of the Middle East’s oil and gas flows.Petrol station attendants across Metro Manila were manually repricing their pumps last week, as their digital boards – never designed for three-digit fuel costs – could not cope with record prices.A worker uses black tape to adjust the prices on a digital sign board that cannot accommodate additional digits at a petrol in Quezon City, Philippines, on Tuesday. Photo: APDiesel has already hit 115 pesos (US$1.92) per litre in some locations and threatens to climb higher, eating into minimum daily wages that do not exceed 700 pesos in the Philippine capital.