Potential economic driver Engineered-bamboo making spells annual profit of P400 billion

CEBU, Philippines — The local manufacturing of engineered bamboo in the Philippines is seen to account for a significant chunk of potential revenue for the Philippines, following the passage of a bill that will strengthen its commercialization as a sustainable construction material potentially in high-rise buildings.

Filed in the House of Representatives, House Bill 9144, or an “Act Integrating Bamboo as Sustainable Material for the Built Environment” has been filed by Rep. Jose Manuel F. Alba of Bukidnon.

HB 9144 will direct relevant agencies to develop a Bamboo Structural Code (BSC) which will provide the guidelines, standards, and best practices for the safe and sustainable use of bamboo in building design and construction.

Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Deogracias Victor B. Savellano said from import substitution alone, the economic benefit from engineered bamboo is placed at P400 billion ($8 billion) yearly.

Savellano, who is also the vice chairman of the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC), said the legislation on the Bamboo Structural Code is critical in implementing Executive Order 879, which created the PBIDC.

“We look forward to finally implementing EO 879, which envisioned industrialization through bamboo-based manufacturing,” Savellano said mentioning that the EO 879, issued in 2010, has not been implemented at all.  Neither has PBIDC received any budget allocation.

But the bills now filed in Congress, particularly Senate Bill (SB) 2513 (Kawayan Act), will put teeth on existing policies.  SB 2513, filed by Senator Mark A. Villar, is allocating a budget for PBIDC to spur private sector investment in the bamboo sector.

HB 9144 will promote bamboo as a sustainable building material, boosting the Philippines’ compliance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDG).   It will call for the integration of bamboo-related education into higher education curricula and continuing professional education for architects, interior designers, and engineers.

Bamboo will be introduced as a construction material that is comparable to steel in tensile strength and as beautiful as hardwood.

Bamboo is traditionally used for housing in rural areas, but only for one or two-story houses. But to be used as an alternative to steel or hardwood, especially in high-rise structures, guidelines should be put up in the National Building Code or Structural Code.

Luis P. Lorenzo Jr., chairman of engineered bamboo producer Rizome Philippines, said the government should consider it urgent to come up with policies on the Bamboo Structural Code to seize a huge market.

“Our wood-based construction material is imported almost 94 percent.  (To use bamboo) for import substitution, and earn billions of dollars, we need to move fast (in coming up with policies) that include bamboo in every instrument-- into the structural building code,” Lorenzo said.

Extensive research has shown that bamboo has the mechanical properties for use in construction.

Savellano has been pushing for the commercial use of bamboo both as an agricultural support material and as an industrial product.

“Bamboo can be our single biggest source of revenue that can enable many of our countrymen to rise above poverty especially our Indigenous People who are also the guardians of our environment,” Savellano said.

As an Ilocos Sur representative,  Savellano had authored House Bill 9576, or the Philippine Industry Development Act.

At present, DA is strengthening its bamboo propagation program, having recognized that bamboo is a high-value crop that has both food and consumer-industrial uses.

For one, DA has funded the bamboo nursery of the University of the Philippines-Visayas which has a planned plantation expansion of over 10 hectares.

Rene Madarang, executive director of PBIDC, said the Philippines should now catch up in bamboo commercialization.

“Total export trade value of bamboo commodities (in 2020) reached $2.969 billion with Asia accounting for a significant 80.2 percent share.   However, the Philippines contributed to just $473,852,” Madarang said.

According to Madarang the local industry has to hurdle the challenges including low product quality and high production cost, inaccessible financing, and non-supportive policies.

With the institutionalization of PBIDC, the Philippines is establishing an agency that harmonizes all bamboo functions scattered in different government agencies, he said.

Even now, PBIDC is supporting the establishment of a bamboo electronic database, policy incentives for private sector investments, and rural-based bamboo enterprises.

According to the Advances in Science and Technology Journal (ASTJ), bamboo can be used as reinforcement in concrete as a replacement for steel.

“Bamboo culms are often used directly without any alteration as structural members such as beams and columns. The shear and flexural behavior of bamboo reinforced concrete (BRC) beams is significantly better than plain concrete beams,” reported the ASTJ, adding that

Bamboo fiber reinforced concrete (BFRC), for instance, is a good alternative to existing synthetic fibers reinforced concrete such as glass and steel fibers.

Bamboo has been reported to have a tensile strength comparable to steel.

Interesting Engineering (IE) reported that “steel has a tensile strength of 23,000 pounds per square inch.”

“But bamboo surpasses steel with a noticeable lead at 28,000 pounds That is because when we consider the strength of a material, there are variables to keep in mind. The tensile strength can be defined as the resistance offered by an objecting to breaking or splitting under tension,” reported IE.