An article at bulatlat states that only a handful will benefit from the recently signed RA No. 9367 or more commonly known as the 2006 Philippine Biofuels Act. Chiefly land owners who might be exempted from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) because they are going to be planting feedstock materials for biofuel processors.
The Law cannot address the most urgent problem of exorbitant and soaring oil prices caused by foreign monopoly control. In the final analysis, only the landlords and bourgeois-compradors like Zubiri and his co-authors are the ones who will benefit the most from the Biofuels Act, a law that was enacted at the expense of genuine agrarian reform.
I am of the belief that by the implementation of the Biofuels Act, the Philippines is helping to reduce its import of foreign oil as well as helping to reduce global warming by the burning of a clean energy source? Not to mention that we are generating jobs by creating new industries and the savings we get from not importing oil can be used to deliver basic services, develop infrastructure and spur development. Isn’t that benefit enough?
An interesting factoid of the article :
An official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) admitted that the conversion of sugar haciendas for ethanol production will be a major consideration of the DAR in the exemption of lands under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Because of rising oil prices, ethanol production is now considered a strategic investment by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the DAR must therefore take into account the supposed “economic benefits” of ethanol business ventures as against the actual physical distribution of lands to farmer-beneficiaries.
The CARP is going to end in 2008, meaning that unless the law is amended to extend the program no more farms can be applied to be placed under the CARP and have their lands distributed to the tenant farmers. Who rarely get any support from the government to help develop their lands, more often than not they end up selling their rights to unscrupulous individuals for a pot of cash that will last them for a few months then they go looking for jobs in other farms. But Oh wait, since a lot of farms are already under CARP, there are no more independent farms to work for. The other alternative is they lease their lands for 20 years minimum to multinational corporations who hire them as cheap labor. Does this mean that there is a law that is going to be passed that will say that lands used for biofuel production will be exempted from CARP? Right now only untitled land (can be acquired via application of rights), Fishponds and land owned by Indigenous Peoples(IP) who applied for a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title(CADT) are exempt from CARP. But till I see a bill being lobbied in Congress that states that, the authors premise is speculation and hearsay.
He goes on further to state that:
Energy independence can only be achieved if energy resources are effectively controlled and managed by the people through the state, and not by the landlords, bourgeois compradors, and foreign corporations. A pro-people alternative fuels program should not allow the wanton conversion agricultural lands for biofuels production and ensure that genuine agrarian reform would not be compromised.
I respect his opinion but since we historically know already that letting the government run Utility Company’s leads always to abuse and mismanagement, why bother? If we did that we might as well let the government run the national flag carrier and deliver the water once again. Oh yeah, but we deregulated that because of the above mentioned reasons.
Article here
Category: Law
