Cabinet told to stop using gas-guzzling SUVs

MANILA, Philippines – Cabinet officials were told to keep their gas guzzling SUVs in the garage and set the example on energy conservation by taking the LRT or riding a bicycle to work, in an effort to jumpstart a government program that would save the country as much as P140 billion a year on fuel expenses alone, Malacañang said yesterday.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the country could save as much as P140 billion a year if vehicles reduce gasoline or diesel consumption to just one liter a day.

Ermita heads a newly-formed Presidential Task Force on Energy Contingency that would consolidate and coordinate the country’s energy conservation measures and come up with short-term and long-term plans to cope with rapidly rising oil prices.

“The Cabinet members will set the example,” Ermita said. “You might see some of us riding the LRT, though you might say we’re overacting. It’s not unlikely that we’ll see some of us going to work on bicycles, it’s good exercise.”

A good example, he said, is former Zamboanga congressman Manuel “Way Kurat” Zamora, who rode a bike to work at the House of Representatives in Quezon City.

Ermita said that based on records from the Land Transportation Office, there are about 4,211,932 gasoline-driven vehicles and 1,561,935 diesel-fed vehicles in the country.

If gasoline-fed vehicles were to consume one liter less fuel a day at the current price of gasoline of P52 a liter, the savings would amount to more than P219 million a day, or P6.6 billion a month, he said.

In one year, the total savings would hit P78.9 billion, Ermita said.

He said that at P45 per liter, the same save-a-liter-day formula would translate to a daily savings of P70.2 billion for diesel-powered vehicles.

On a monthly basis, this means a savings of more than P2 billion, or P63.3 billion a year.

Ermita said for the government’s 80,000 vehicles, a one-liter reduction in fuel consumption would translate to a daily savings of P4 million, P120 million a month, or P1.44 billion a year.

He said the move of undertaking spot checks on government agencies would be revived to monitor how these offices are implementing energy conservation programs.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), for its part, already reported an almost 50-percent reduction in its gasoline consumption, citing “strict implementation of rules” on the use of official transport services by its personnel.

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza reported yesterday that the DENR’s gas consumption from September 2006 to February 2007 was recorded at P400,000. But this went down to almost half at P260,000 from September 2007 to February 2008.

“We follow strict implementation rules,” Atienza stressed. “There were no unnecessary trips, no unnecessary withdrawal of official vehicles. There was a highly controlled withdrawal from official gasoline (allowance) that’s why we were able to cut our gas consumption.”

Atienza also said that in line with efforts to conserve energy, they are looking at putting up solar panels at the DENR building.

Also, he said the DENR is considering the establishment of a catchment facility for rainwater, which could be used for the agency’s “incidental needs” like toilet flushing, plant watering and maintaining the DENR fountain.   – With Katherine Adraneda