Malacañang to recognize inventor from Compostela

CEBU, Philippines - Malacanang will honor a Cebuano inventor and skills educator for coming up with a self-contained renewable energy vehicle.

The recognition ce-remony, which will coincide with the launching of the Bayanihan sa Daan Awards, will take place on November 27 at the Kalayaan Hall of Malacañang Palace.

Brian Cabajar Yuson, president and chief executive officer of Saint James Academy of Skills, Incorporated, is the designer fabricator of the first ever solar and wind-powered railway car after teaming up with environment lawyer Antonio Oposa, Jr.

The Barangay Poblacion, Compostela, Cebu-based Saint James Academy is a Technical Education and Skills Development Authority-accredited training school.

The semi-train, which is pedal-, wind-, and solar-powered, runs using a bank of batteries that convert heat and kinetic energy into electrical energy.

Yuson received the invitation for the recognition ceremony from Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection Juan Romeo Nereus O. Acosta and Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje.

A copy of the October 17, 2014 communication was made available to The FREEMAN.

The same letter was also signed by Oposa, convenor of the Bayanihan sa Daan, and Durwood Zaelice, Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development president.

The letter said the Bayanihan sa Daan Awards and Recognition Ceremony is a unique Filipino approach to a transport revolution, urban sanity, and to address other climate crisis.

“On this occasion, the Filipino people, joined by the Office of the President and national and international organizations, will recognize you for your efforts to build the first ever Filipino-designed Self-Contained Renewable Energy Transport,” read the letter.

The same letter hailed Yuson for being “the modern-day example of what happens when we unleash the native genius of the human heart.”

Yuson told The FREEMAN  he was happy that after two years the national government recognized his work.

He said that unlike other electric vehicles, his invention’s batteries are not charged by plugging them to an external source of electricity, as the energy comes from the vehicle itself.

 The invention, Yuson said, proved that renewable energy is the way of the future and that it could be a solution to much of the transport problems of the world, which burns fossil fuels to power its transportation systems.  (FREEMAN)