FOR years, the Philippine electric vehicle (EV) conversation has suffered from a peculiar problem: we keep debating incentives while ignoring infrastructure.
Now comes Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian's proposal to expand incentives under the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (Evida), extending fiscal and non-fiscal benefits from eight years to 12 years while offering more perks for EV owners: free parking, discounted parking, dedicated expressway lanes, and even a Buy Now, Register Later program.
At first glance, it sounds like exactly what the EV industry needs.
In reality, it reveals a deeper question: Are we solving the right problem?
Gatchalian is correct in identifying oil dependence as a strategic vulnerability. Every geopolitical crisis, every disruption in the Middle East, and every spike in global crude prices eventually land on the wallets of Filipino motorists. The Philippines imports nearly all of its petroleum requirements. We have little control over global supply and even less influence over global pricing.
Every time oil prices surge, transport costs rise. Food prices follow. Inflation follows. Economic growth slows.
From a national security perspective, reducing oil dependence is not merely an environmental goal. It is an economic necessity.
That is why Evida was enacted in the first place.
The problem is that, three years after its passage, the biggest obstacle to EV adoption is no longer awareness. It is execution.
The Department of Energy (DOE) itself has acknowledged that permitting delays remain one of the primary reasons charging infrastructure is not expanding quickly enough.
This should concern policymakers more than parking privileges.
After all, an EV owner can survive without a discounted parking slot.
An EV owner cannot own one with confidence without access to a charger.
The lesson from markets that successfully accelerated EV adoption is surprisingly consistent. Consumers do not buy EVs because governments give them special parking spaces. They buy them when they become confident that charging is convenient, reliable, and widely available.
China understood this.
Before it became the world's EV superpower, it spent years building charging networks, battery supply chains, manufacturing capacity, and local ecosystems. The vehicle itself was only one component of a much larger industrial strategy.
Today, China is not simply selling EVs. It dominates batteries, mineral processing, software integration, and, increasingly, the global automotive supply chain itself.
That is why Chinese brands are flooding markets around the world, including the Philippines.
Meanwhile, we continue debating parking incentives.
This is not to say Gatchalian's proposal lacks merit. The extension of incentives sends a positive signal to investors. Zero import duties can make EVs more affordable. Additional benefits may encourage hesitant buyers to finally make the switch.
But incentives should be supporting actors, not the main attraction.
The main event must be infrastructure.
Imagine if every major shopping mall, fuel station, office building, transport terminal, government center, and residential development had clear, streamlined rules for charger installation. Imagine if permits took weeks instead of months. Imagine if distribution utilities were incentivized to support charging networks rather than merely react to demand.
That would do more for EV adoption than a thousand free parking slots.
The bigger issue is that the Philippines still lacks a coherent long-term mobility strategy.
Are we trying to become an EV manufacturing hub?
A battery assembly center?
A charging infrastructure leader?
A software and mobility services market?
Nobody seems entirely sure.
Without answering those questions, incentives become tactical decisions without a strategic destination.
The danger is that we end up becoming merely a consumer market for imported vehicles while other countries capture the high-value portions of the supply chain.
That would be a missed opportunity.
The global automotive industry is undergoing its biggest transformation in more than a century. The shift from internal combustion to electrification is reshaping manufacturing, energy systems, logistics networks, and industrial policy.
Countries that move early gain industrial capability.
Countries that move late become customers.
For the Philippines, the choice is becoming increasingly clear.
The next phase of EV policy should focus less on rewarding ownership and more on removing barriers to deployment. Every delayed charging station, every permit bottleneck, and every regulatory overlap slows adoption more effectively than any incentive can accelerate it.
Filipino consumers are already showing interest. New EV models are arriving almost monthly. Chinese brands are pushing prices lower. Legacy manufacturers are expanding their electrified offerings.
Demand is slowly building.
What is missing is the ecosystem that allows that demand to flourish.
The best EV incentive is not free parking.
It is the confidence that wherever a Filipino drives, a charger is waiting.
Until policymakers solve that problem, every new incentive package will merely decorate a foundation that remains unfinished.