Foreign business groups back renewable energy measure

Foreign business groups are backing the passage into law of the proposed Renewable Energy Bill.

In a letter to President Arroyo, the Joint Foreign Chambers in the Philippines said they would be pushing for the inclusion of the said bill among the priority legislative agenda of 14th Congress.

The group said they are seeking “to advocate a priority legislative reform agenda for the 14th Congress which would strengthen Philippine competitiveness and increase the nation’s economic growth and social development.”

It added it has been advocating for the passage of the bill which aims to promote the development, utilization and commercialization of renewable sources of energy.

The bill also sets up a framework for the grant of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to all renewable energy activities and creates the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB).

In a separate letter to House Speaker Jose de Venecia, the group said “the bill proposes to establish a Renewable Energy Trust Fund (RETF) to finance research, development, demonstration, and promotion of various renewable energy systems.”

“However, the Senate counterpart of the Renewable Energy Bill remains pending in plenary. We urge the Senate to give high priority to the passage of the House bill without significant changes as we understand there is broad support for this bill,” the group said.

The business groups earlier pushed for 11 other priority reforms that should be tackled and passed by the 14th Congress.

These are the BOT (Buid-Operate-Transfer) Law amendments, Credit Information System Act, Customs Brokers Act amendment, Financial Sector Taxes Rationalization Act, Fiscal Incentives Rationalization Act, Foreign Investment Restrictions Rationalization Act, Freedom of Access to Information Act (especially contract transparency) Land Administration Reform Act, Local Government Code amendments, Magna Carta for Small and Medium Enterprises Act amendments and Simplified Net Income Taxation Act.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said renewable energy projects totaling 2,500 megawatts would save the country about 100 million barrels of imported oil.

“This is estimated to save the country as much as $3.6 billion or almost P200 billion in fuel purchases,” it said.

In addition, every 600 million kilowatthours generated by renewable energy-based plants means less imports of one million barrels of oil.