Wanted: Laws on biodiesel and ethanol!

Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri revealed that the Philippines could save up to $2 billion if it shifts to locally produced bio-diesel or coco-diesel. This is what we’ve been harping about in this corner more than a month… if you prioritized ethanol production, you could probably double that figure in saving our precious dollars.

The problem really is, Filipinos are not investing enough in agriculture and the government isn’t giving enough incentives for entrepreneurs to go into agri-business. In short, what we need is legislation to force our jeepneys, buses and taxicabs to shift to alternative fuels. Taxicabs in Japan, for instance, have been using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) since 10 years ago and I can only sigh in amazement why our taxicab operators haven’t copied their Japanese counterparts, thus saving a lot of money since LPG costs half than that of gasoline. Perhaps the problem stems from the fact that the leaders of militant jeepney organizations are focused only on one issue, the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law, instead of looking for alternative fuels which we have here.

This is exactly what party-list Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said a month ago as their solution to the high prices of oil products. He said, "What we need is to repeal the failed Oil Deregulation Law, take matters into our own hands by buying back Petron, and controlling both petroleum prices and distribution." Where did Satur get such a stupid idea? Doesn’t he know that even if the Philippines nationalizes our oil industry, we still have to import and buy these oil products using scarce dollars and by doing so, would have no effect on the world prices of crude?

If you ask me, this country would be better off without the lags of people like Satur Ocampo! What we need is a full-blown, top-priority government program to force the shift to coco or bio-diesel and ethanol and soon, this nation would no longer be dependent on foreign oil! Talking about bio-diesel, here’s an interesting story e-mailed to me on this topic:

"Dear Sir, Since I’m here in Qatar, I read your March 22 column, ‘Go ethanol and be free from foreign oil,’ through the Internet on philstar.com The Filipino Global Community. And this gave me an interest to write to you about this since I’m really convinced that, not by imagination or rumors only, that coco-diesel can be an alternative for fuel on diesel engine as proven already.

"This reminds me that during my childhood, at the age of 10, my father told me about that time of the Second World War during the Japanese occupation in city of Cebu. He bought a diesel engine a Japanese made with the brand name Yanmar — a two-stroke engine and a 4 hp with two flywheels on both side.

"He managed to install this engine to drive a corn mill at his place in Tindog, Medellin in the northern part of Cebu. But because he was afraid for his family with so many Japanese soldiers patrolling in the said area, he evacuated his family, together with his diesel engine, to Tagbubunga in northwestern Leyte, and there he built a corn mill again.

"Some Filipino guerrillas patrolling in that place asked for milled corn for food, which he shared with them. At one time, a group of Japanese soldiers also asked for milled corn; he was lucky that when a Japanese soldier tried to smash the engine with a big hammer that he brought, they noticed that it was made in Japan, so they didn’t do it.

"Now this is the story… when his diesel engine almost ran out of diesel fuel, he let his brother go to Bogo, Cebu to buy diesel fuel, but my uncle got only five liters. My father was not a scientist nor an engineer, but because he got the idea that diesel fuel would not last long, he tried to do some experiments by mixing diesel with coco oil (lana sa lubi). In his first attempt of mixing one liter with a tablespoon of coco oil, the engine ran without any problem. So he made another attempt — 1/2 liter x 1/2 liter — and still there was no problem. Until he had completely used the pure coco oil and still the engine ran in good condition.

"Because Leyte was a very critical place, with many Japanese soldiers, at the time the American soldiers landed on the island, (my father) decided to stop the operation of his corn mill and he hid his diesel engine in the seashore and covered it with nipa leaves, and they evacuated again somewhere around the island.

"After 10 years, in 1956, my father brought back the diesel engine to Cebu City as he planned to recondition it. At that time I was 10 and he let me help him overhaul the engine. I asked him if the engine could run again since it was never used for a long time. He replied that since it ran at that time he used coco oil, how much more now when we would use pure diesel.

"So we overhauled it. I was really surprised that the parts were still new although I noticed that there were some residues (morag lunok nga uga) on some parts of the piston and the valve on the cylinder head, but they were still in good condition. We assembled it back and had a test run; the engine still ran without any problems. So if that old diesel engine could run with pure coco oil, how much more with today’s modern technology which could make some new design for it. So, Sir Bobit, I would like to encourage the Filipino people to use this kind of alternative. Truly yours, Francisco F. Ygot Jr., [email protected]"

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Our heartfelt congratulations to the Reverend Monsignor Francisco Montecillo Padilla Titular on the occasion of his Episcopal Ordination as Archbishop-elect of Nebbio Apostolic Nuncio to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. He is the country’s third Papal Nuncio. This Episcopal Ordination will be conferred by His Eminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, together with His Excellency Most Reverend Ambrose de Paoli, Apostolic Nuncio in Australia, and His Excellency Most Reverend Fernando Filoni, Apostolic Nuncio in the Philippines, as co-ordaining bishops at the Metropolitan Cebu Cathedral at 3 p.m. tomorrow. Among the other posts in the service of the Diplomatic See that he had held was Apostolic Nuncio in Venezuela, Austria, India, Japan and lately, in Australia. God bless you, Msgr. Francisco Padilla.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns in The Freeman can also be accessed through The Philippine STAR website (www.philstar.com). He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.