Piolito Salgan has driven a jeepney in Manila for 27 years, ferrying hundreds of riders every day in one of the Philippines’ iconic public utility vehicles. But with the war in Iran pushing fuel prices to record highs, he is thinking of giving up.
Diesel prices in the Philippines have more than doubled since the start of the war, surging to about 150 pesos ($2.49) per litre — one of the sharpest increases in Asia. That has eaten into the profits for jeepneys, which are the primary mode of public transport in one of the world’s most congested cities. Salgan’s earnings have dropped by nearly half, to 900 pesos a day.
“I will stop when [the diesel price] reaches 200 pesos . . . I will just help my wife sell bread and other food items outside our home,” Salgan, 47, told the FT, as he sat in rush-hour traffic in his jeepney, which is named Misis, Tagalog for “wife”.