Groups urge passage of renewable energy bill

With only two weeks before the adjournment of the 13th Congress, advocates of renewable energy reiterated their appeal yesterday for a swift Senate passage of the Renewable Energy Bill.

The groups insisted that the signing into law of the Biofuels Act should go "hand in hand" with the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill to effectively address energy security.

"The Senate must realize that the massive uptake of renewable energy is both urgently necessary and technically possible. All that is missing is urgent policy support," said Jasper Inventor, climate and energy campaigner of Greenpeace.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Energy, is set to deliver her sponsorship speech on the proposed measure next week.

Environmentalists hope for a swift passage of Senate Bill 2562, and to reach an approved bicameral version before the 13th Congress adjourns. The approved bicameral version of the measure would then be transmitted to the Palace for signing into law.

The House version of the proposed measure, House Bill 5536, was already approved in September last year.

If the Senate fails to pass its consolidated version of the proposed measure, the Renewable Energy Bill would have to repeat the legislative cycle in the next Congress. — Katherine Adraneda