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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri urged the government to
go slow on pushing for the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as
fuel for motor vehicles.
“LPG has cleaner emissions but it is not
reliable in reducing transportation cost because it is
fossil-based,” he said on Sunday.
Zubiri pointed out that while LPG was cheap at
first, it became more costly as prices of fossil-based fuel
increased.
The government had encouraged taxi operators to
shift to LPG with the incentive of extending their franchise. A
similar incentive is being offered to bus operators to wean them
away from using diesel fuel.
Zubiri said biofuels, either bioethanol or
biodiesel, are a better alternative to LPG.
“We have to import LPG, while we can produce
bioethanol and biodiesel,” he added.
Zubiri said sugar is the main feedstock for bioethanol,
while jatropha and coconut are the feedstock for biodiesel.
“Biofuels are the fuel of the future. The
Philippines has the capacity to produce three billion liters of
bioethanol a year because there is over-production of sugar,” he
added.
Shell, Petron and Seaoil are offering a blend of
90-percent unleaded gas and 10-percent ethanol, or E10, at P2 lower
than the price of premium gasoline.
“The price would be lower if only the
provision of the biofuels law exempting biofuels from value-added
tax is followed,” Zubiri said.
He was the principal author of the law.
Zubiri noted that while Japanese car
manufacturers are concentrating on hybrid cars, those in the United
States are focusing on flex fuel vehicles (FFVs), which can run on
pure gasoline or a blend of 85-percent ethanol and 15-percent
gasoline or E85.
“General Motors and Ford are producing FFVs.
In the Philippines, Seaoil will soon have E85for FFVs. The E85 of
Seaoil will be about P20 cheaper than premium gasoline” he said.
Zubiri added that he would soon have his vehicle
converted to be able to use E85.
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