Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, signed on Friday the “Climate Change Act of 2009″ or Republic Act 9729 (sourced from Senate Bill No. 2583 and House Bill No. 5982) which calls for a national strategy for dealing with the effects of climate change to the country. A few weeks before the signing the Philippines was rocked by two storms that resulted in massive flooding, lives lost and extensive property damage.

The law allows for an autonomous policy-making body, known as the Climate Change Commission (CCC), to be formed under the Office of the President. They are tasked coordinate the programs of the government and represent the country in international climate change conferences. The commission will be chaired by the President and shall have three commissioners.
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Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri announced that he is introducing a bill that will provide incentives to manufacturers, sellers and importers of hybrid vehicles in the country.

Zubiri’s Senate Bill 3397 is titled “An Act Providing Incentives to the Manufacturer, Sale and Importation of Hybrid Vehicles, encourages public support for the development of the hybrid car industry in line with the government’s Alternative Fuels program”.
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The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Philippine Renewable Energy Law (Republic Act 9513) was made public yesterday by the Department of Energy (DOE).

Under the law the Philippines has to double the energy derived from Renewable Energy Sources within 10 years. The DOE is hoping to attract about $10 billion in newer investments with the approval of the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR), the energy department said.
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A circular passed earlier this year by the Department of Energy (DOE), which mandated the 2% biodiesel requirement hike in local fuel mixture is what Chemrez expects to be the driving force in their sales and production increase this year. However they are expecting competition to be stiff as more companies have already signed up at the DOE to be registered biofuel producers
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Prof Winnie Monsod tackled the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant issue on her Analysis segment at QTV and based from that its easy to discern that she seems to be in favor of its reopening.
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Great analysis by Prof Winnie Monsod of last month’s LPG crisis. This video was shown at the height of the LPG crisis last February 2009.

The LPG shortage had put the Department of Energy in the hot seat. With DOE Secretary Angelo Reyes being the proverbial Lightning Rod. As with any crisis, the concerned sectors will partake in the time honored tradition of playing the “Blame Game”