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Despite government’s promise to increase rise
production amid globally rising prices and tightening supplies of
food, the Philippine National Oil Co.-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC-AFC)
plans to pursue its mandate to develop biofuels.
Peter Anthony A. Abaya, PNOC-AFC
president and CEO, said although the company recognizes the need to
increase rice production, it will continue its jatropha development
program as the soaring price and dwindling supply of oil also poses
a threat to the country.
“We see the need to increase
rice production. But we also see the continued urgency of energy
security as imported oil continues its upward trek toward $200 a
barrel. This country’s need for alternatives to expensive oil
proportionately rises,” he said.
PNOC-AFC, the biofuels arm of
state-owned PNOC, is pushing for the development of the jatropha
plant for biofuel use. Armed with a P1.1-billion budget, the company
has embarked on a five-year program to study, plant and process
jatropha, a non-food crop.
In line with the company’s
efforts to support boosting rice production in the country, the PNOC-AFC
official said it has already adapted some changes in its projects.
An example of this, Abaya said,
is its proposal to cultivate jatropha in the Iwahig Prison and Penal
Farm in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
He said that while the
company’s projects to develop the jatropha plant will only be set
up in non-food producing parts of the area, PNOC-AFC will renew
talks with the Department of Justice to let the Department of
Agriculture develop its flat arable lands for rice production.
“Since rice is not ideal for
rolling and sloping land, the PNOC-AFC will continue its plans to
develop jatropha for those sloping areas this end of April. Iwahig
will be a rice and biofuel producer at the same time,” he added.
The PNOC-AFC and the DOJ earlier
signed an agreement back in 2007 for biofuels development in the
50,000-hectare property of Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm targeting
all idle, uncultivated areas.
--Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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