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By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
The Senate unanimously approved
Monday on third and final reading the priority bill enhancing the
development of renewable energy, to lessen the country’s
dependence on energy generated from imported fossil fuel.
The vote was 18-0 with no
abstention. The certified bill was supposed to have been approved
last week but was delayed when the sessions were focused on the
“double entry” issue.
The Renewable Energy Act has been
pending in Congress since 1997.
Sen. Juan Zubiri, one of the
principal authors and sponsors of the bill, said that a key feature
of the measure provides a seven-year income tax holiday to investors
in renewable energy development in the Philippines. It was also
sponsored by Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago and Edgardo Angara.
All registered renewable energy
developers will also be allowed to import machinery, equipment and
materials without paying duties and value added tax. They will be
entitled to special realty tax rates and to a corporate tax rate of
5 percent of gross income.
Zubiri said that these and other
incentives would encourage large-scale investments in renewable
energy. He justified these incentives, saying they would enable
investors to survive the initial phase of costly construction and
operations.
“The beauty of renewable energy
power plants is that the high investment costs are only at the
beginning of the project, then costs taper off during operations
since power is generated from cost-free renewable sources like wind,
solar, hydro and geothermal,” he explained.
He stressed that renewable energy
is constantly replenished and never runs out, aside from lowering
the rate of global warming by lessening the country’s dependence
on fossil fuel.
Incentives for farmers
The Senate-approved bill also
gives incentives to farmers and entities engaged in the planning of
jatropha, coconut, sugarcane and other crops and trees used as
biomass resources. It is a consolidation of measures filed by
Senators Pia Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada, Richard Gordon, Lito Lapid,
Loren Legarda, Bong Revilla, Zubiri, Angara and Santiago.
The Renewable Energy Coalition, a
multisectoral group pushing for the passage of the bill, earlier
said that developing 2,500 megawatts of capacity from green power
sources alone could displace 100 million barrels of imported oil
worth over $3.6 billion.
A study by the US National
Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Department of Energy earlier
found the Philippines has vast renewable energy potential that can
generate as much as 76,600 megawatts of installed capacity.
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