If there is anything of prime importance during the first part of this year, it is to follow-through with unfinished business of last year, and to do so with speed and efficiency. One of the major issues today is global warming, and all nations are taking concrete steps to address this. Currently pending in Congress is the Renewable Energy Bill, which aims to accelerate the development of the country’s vast reserves of renewable energy such as geothermal, hydro, wind, solar and biomass. The bill seeks to provide, among others, attractive fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to encourage clean energy projects and mechanisms to ensure the priority use of power generated from these resources. Despite Malacañang stating this as a bill that needs urgent priority legislation, it has not yet been passed.
The Renewable Energy Bill has been pending in its various forms for almost 20 years now. Seventeen versions of the bill have been filed, and were almost passed in the 13th Congress but they ran out of time, and guess what... they have to begin all over again.
Because of this urgent need, groups have come together under the banner of the RE Coalition to campaign and gather support for the bill, and to ensure its passage.
In his pastoral letter, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales stated: “As a people and as a country, we are in a position to do our part in addressing climate change. On the individual level, we need to inculcate energy efficiency and energy conservation measures in our daily lives as well as in our workplaces and communities; simple matters such as using less electricity and gasoline; planting trees, segregating garbage, and turning away from a highly consumerist and wasteful lifestyle. On the national level, let us call on government to encourage and prioritize the use of renewable sources of energy which the Philippines is abundantly blessed with.”
Private sector heeded the call, and to push legislators to action, the RE Coalition was born. This is a multi-sectoral alliance working for the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill. Composed of industry players in renewable energy, non-government organizations involved in environmental and developmental programs and other entities concerned for the promotion and use of clean energy in the country, the RE Coalition met with the Department of Energy before 2007 ended to make its presence known.
The RE Coalition is actively engaging the public in a continuing discussion on the importance of renewable energy for the country, as this will define the long-term health and well-being of the country. One of the Coalition’s thrusts is working with legislators in the development of a renewable energy policy framework for the country by providing information, conducting technical briefings and participating in congressional proceedings. Seeking to widen public awareness and highlight the urgency of passing the RE Bill, the Coalition has also tapped the support of other sectors such as the Catholic Church, media, local governments and the public at large, who have voiced their own respective calls for renewable energy in recognition of the country’s need for a sustainable solution to its energy and environmental concerns.
The RE Coalition includes members of the Confederation of RE Resources, Inc. (CORE) such as Aboitiz Equity Ventures, the Association of Wind Energy Producers, Bronzeoak Philippines, First Philippine Energy Corp., Philippine Association of Small-Scale Hydropower, Inc., Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC), Renewable Energy Association of the Philippines, Shell Solar Phil. Corp., Smith Bell Renewable Energy Services Corp., Sta. Clara International Corp., Talisay Bioenergy, Inc., Varied Energy Development Corp., Victorias Bioenergy, Inc; the NGO Coalition for Renewable Energy and Sustainability (NCoRES) with its members Approtech Asia, Manila Observatory; KLIMA, Miriam-PEACE, the Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Philippine Network on Climate Change, the Philippine Solar Energy Society, Sibol ng Agham at Teknolohiya (SIBAT) and the WWF-Philippines. Others include Chevron Geothermal Philippines Holdings, Inc., the National Geothermal Association of the Philippines, Greenpeace, the Philippine Sugar Millers Association and EON Stakeholder Relations Firm.