At the unveiling of a Compressed National Gas Station in Batangas. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo once again called for the Philippine Congress to work anew to pass the Renewable Energy Bill which is pending in the House of Representatives. Pointing out that the country needs this to stave off the impact of high oil prices on the Philippine economy as well as to fight the increasing pollution.
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The Philippine Biofuel Act of 2006 gives a lot of incentives via tax breaks and priority loan packages to biofuel producers and directly related industries. Specific Tax on the biofuel is zero while it is also exempted from the imposition of a 12% Value Added Tax. Waste from distilleries has been classified as “reuse” and will therefore not be required to pay wastewater charges.

These incentives are great to getting the biofuel industry of the Philippines on its feet, what has been said to be overlooked however are incentives to the consumers of these biofuels. These are through the means of cheap cars which are highly compatible to run on an even higher mixture of biofuels.
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I didn’t notice that the Philippine Department of Energy already released a copy of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 9367, otherwise known as Philippine Biofuel Act of 2006. The document was signed on May 17, 2007, published on May 23, 2007 and has and effectivity date of June 8, 2007. This document further clarifies the law that was signed last January by adding more detail to the guidelines.

Copy of the Document can be found here

With the heat of Summer and May local elections inflicting the Philippines right now, an added burden on the population could be the possibility of fuel prices going up further because of the implementation of the Biofuel Law on May 6, 2007. And that’s not even mentioning that world oil prices are already going up because of the election in Nigeria (Oil speculators are celebrating right now.) Last time I checked, not all the world’s oil is coming from Nigeria.
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Greenpeace, EcoWaste Coalition, and other environmental groups in the Philippines handed questions to the Philippine Senatorial Candidates (for this May’s local elections) asking for their stand on some important environmental issues such as: climate change, energy, water, solid waste, toxic and waste trade.
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