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By Sammy Martin, Reporter
TWO senators have joined calls not to suspend
the implementation of the Biofuels Law, even if Senator Rodolfo
Biazon early last week said there is a need to suspend the law
temporarily so government can focus on attaining its food security
goals.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, both the principal authors of the Biofuels
Law, warned government advisers against making haphazard suggestions
to suspend the implementation of the law and the country’s
biofuels program, by raising the argument that the production of
rice and other major crops should enjoy priority over the
development of alternative and indigenous fuel sources.
The two senators from Mindanao even said the
mass planting of jatropha, a source of biodiesel, will not imperil
the government’s plan to open up more farmlands for rice. This is
because jatropha thrives in upland, hilly and even cogon lands that
are not suitable for rice production.
“We should not commit the mistake of
backtracking from our program to develop alternative, renewable
sources of energy that are abundant in the country. Otherwise, we
will be helpless in coping with the skyrocketing price of imported
oil and its domino effects on prices of food and other essential
commodities,” Pimentel said.
Jatropha planting program
The two senators disclosed that 137,537 hectares
of what used to be idle lands spread in various military
reservations have been set aside for jatropha nurseries and
plantations. Another 50,000 hectares of lands in government panel
colonies will also be converted into jatropha plantations.
Reports released by the Department of
Agriculture also revealed that 15 foreign and local companies want
to embark on biofuel ventures with P34 billion worth of investments,
covering 725,300 hectares of lands to be planted to various biofuel
crops.
Pimentel and Zubiri warned it would be foolhardy
for the government to tell foreign and local investors to hold in
abeyance their investments in biofuel ventures.
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