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Filipino farmer pleads ‘Stop US-Iran War’ after soaring fuel prices wipe out earnings

After a seven-hour drive to a trading post in northern Philippines, 35-year-old farmer Elmer Ullani took home nothing but an empty petrol tank even after…

By Samantha Johnson / March 30, 2026
After a seven-hour drive to a trading post in northern Philippines, 35-year-old farmer Elmer Ullani took home nothing but an empty petrol tank even after selling 10 tonnes of cabbage.

Ullani, who hails from the northern town of Tinoc in Ifugao province, said he only managed to sell his produce – yielded over three harvest rounds – at a paltry rate of 8 to 9 pesos (15 US cents) per kilogram, earning him a total of 90,000 pesos (US$1,482).

All of his earnings went towards covering his fuel expenses and a capital of 200,000 pesos.

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“During my first harvest, all the money I earned went to fuel. Diesel has become very expensive here,” Ullani told This Week in Asia.

With diesel now costing 125 pesos per litre in his remote town, Ullani spent about 8,750 pesos on 70 litres of diesel to haul his harvest to the trading post.

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“I don’t even have any left to pay those who helped harvest the crops,” he said.

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