Palace hails biofuel bill’s passage

Malacañang hailed yesterday the approval by Congress of the 2006 Biofuels Act, a landmark legislation mandating the promotion of alternative, renewable energy resources that would generate huge savings for the country on imported fuel.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said President Arroyo had been pushing for the speedy congressional approval of the bill to wean the country away from its dependence on imported fossil fuel.

"We are thankful for the early passage of the Biofuels Act," he said. "We all know that this is a landmark legislation."

Once signed into law by Mrs. Arroyo, the Biofuels Act would generate "big savings for the country in terms of import cost (of petroleum) which we can translate into more projects for the ordinary Filipino," Bunye said.

On the other hand, the government could save up to P3 billion annually in oil import costs with the implementation of the new law, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said.

At present, the Philippines imports 30 percent of its fuel requirements.

The Act ordains a minimum of one percent of biofuel added to diesel within the first year of its effectivity and four to five percent within two years.

The Act also provides tax exemptions, financial assistance and other incentives to encourage investments in biofuels.

Aside from generating huge savings for the country, the Biofuels Act would also lead to the reduction of pollution caused by fossil fuels’ emissions.

The legislation hurdled the congressional bicameral conference committee after a seven-hour marathon session Thursday.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap lauded yesterday the approval of the Biofuels Act of 2006 as a significant move to boost the farm sector.

Once it becomes a law, the bill would require the use of ethanol and coco bio-diesel, giving an added push to the rebounding farm sector and ease the country’s dependence on imported fossil fuel, he added.

Yap said that the enactment of the eco-friendly initiative would greatly help the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) attain its vision of transforming the sector from the sugar industry to the sugarcane industry.

"The sugarcane industry will tap new markets for our local output of the sweetener outside of human consumption," he said.

Yap said the bill’s passage would serve as "a strong impetus" for the SRA to work on programs that would boost local production of sugar.

"As a way to make sure that local ethanol production would not adversely affect the domestic supply of the sweetener for local human consumption as well as for its traditional export commitment to the US market," he said.

On the other hand, Cornie Huizenga, secretariat of the Clean Air Initiatives for Asian Cities head, said while the Biofuels Act is significant for the country’s effort to achieve "clean air," the government must not forget to deal with "other fuels."

"That (approval of Biofuels Act by the bicameral conference committee) is a good development... biofuels (could) ensure cleaner air for the Philippines," she said.

"But biofuels would only be a small portion. It is important that in addition to biofuel, the Philippine government should work on other fuels as well."

Speaking to reporters during a break in the Philippine Clean Air Act Implementation Review Workshop yesterday at the Asian Development Bank in Mandaluyong, Huizenga rated the government’s implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1999 to be between 6 and 6.5.

The rating was taken from a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Based on the latest benchmarking of the capability of Asian cities on air quality management, Metro Manila safely fared from "limited" to "good."

The benchmarking made by the Clean Air Initiatives for Asian cities involved assessment of the ambient air quality monitoring, emission inventories, administrative and legislative framework, and air quality data and availability index. — Aurea Calica, Katherine Adraneda