Speaker renews push for alternative energy sources

MANILA, Philippines — With the global oil crisis deepening and highlighting the country’s heavy dependence on imported petroleum products, Speaker Faustino Dy III is renewing his push for alternative and indigenous sources of energy that are readily available in the country.

“We are 95 percent importing petroleum products and we are very dependent on petroleum products, that is why we need alternatives,” Dy said at the 25th anniversary celebration of the cityhood of Cauayan City, Isabela last Monday.

The Speaker, who is from Isabela, cited the natural gas reserves in some parts of the province including Santiago, San Isidro and Echague.

“This can be an alternative power so that if the crisis stopped and another crisis came we will have other alternative and we will not be totally dependent on oil coming from the Middle East,” Dy said.

At a briefing on Tuesday, House committee on ways and means chairman and Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo said the Middle East conflict triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran has exposed the Philippines’ vulnerability to external shocks, particularly conflicts in oil-producing region.

“Meaning, when there is another war in other countries, in the Middle East, we will be affected. So how do we prepare the country so that it can survive and … it can be less affected whenever or if ever it happens?” Quimbo said.

“Number one is, of course, it’s a wake-up call for us to really push for alternative sources of energy and we should no longer be dependent on petroleum,” he added.

Quimbo said this push for energy diversification would be the focus of the joint hearings by 13 House committees on addressing the impact of the Middle East crisis.

The committees involved are those on energy, agriculture and food, aquaculture and fisheries, foreign affairs, ways and means, labor, transportation, information and communications technology, economic affairs, social services, trade and industry, overseas workers affairs and appropriations.

Aside from diversifying energy sources, Quimbo also emphasized the need for the establishment of a national petroleum reserve to ensure supply stability and cushion future price shocks.

“We also need store. The government must have its own stocks of oil to ensure our supply and then second is that we are purchasing our supply in cheaper prices because we store it and can use in case of any emergency,” Quimbo said.

‘Bayanihan style’

Another lawmaker, Bagong Henerasyon (BH) party-list Rep. Robert Nazal, said the country would be better equipped to deal with global shocks if it has an institutionalized automatic bayanihan-style relief that activates upon the declaration of national energy emergencies.

Before the Holy Week, Nazal filed House Bill 8821, or the “National Energy Emergency Relief and Protection Act,” which establishes a standing legal framework for ready-to-roll assistance.

“The Philippines is confronting an energy shock with immediate consequences for transport costs, food distribution, business operations and household welfare,” Nazal said in the bill’s explanatory note.

He said the measure complements existing executive actions by providing a permanent statutory backbone for crisis response.

“This bill does not duplicate that executive action. It provides what only legislation can firmly establish: a standing statutory framework for automatic relief, market stabilization, logistics continuity, labor protection and targeted public support during any declared national energy emergency,” Nazal explained.

The measure seeks to establish a P100-billion Energy Emergency Relief Fund and convene a multi-agency council to oversee implementation and ensure accountability.

For Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin, oil firms should play a more active role in easing the burden of Filipinos by offering fuel discounts.

“If the oil companies give discounts, it will not only help the motorists, but especially the fishermen, farmers, freight operators and PUV drivers that are directly affect by the rise of oil prices,” Garbin said.