Manila, March 31 -- Speaker Faustino "Bojie" Dy III has expanded to 13 the number of House committees tasked with leading a unified legislative response to the oil price crisis sparked by the escalating conflict in the Middle East, with joint hearings scheduled to begin on April 8 during the congressional session break.

Dy earlier said the hearings aim to ensure coordination with the Executive and produce concrete, actionable measures.

"The objective of these hearings is to work with our partners in the Executive to identify solutions, not point fingers," the Speaker said.

"We want to hear directly from our economic managers and frontline agencies, so we have the information we need to come up with measures that can help our people cop...