PIMENTEL CITES IMMEDIATE BENEFITS FROM BIO-FUELS ACT

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today cited three immediate benefits that the Philippines can derive from the implementation of the Bio-Fuels Act which has been signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo into law.

Pimentel said the commercial production bio-diesel, (from coconut oil) and ethanol (from sugarcane) and their use as motor vehicle fuel will significantly reduce the oil import bill.

He said this will bring about a bio-fuel industry that has the potential of generating a huge number of jobs. Already, he said 12 companies are in the process of putting up ethanol refineries in Negros island and other parts of the country.

Pimentel, one of the principal authors of the Bio-Fuels Act, said the shift to plant-based fuels also called green fuel will help cleanse the environment of toxic fumes.

Given the tremendous advantages from the production and use of environmentally-save green fuel, the Bio-Fuels Act may be considered as the most important piece of legislation passed by the 13th Congress, he said.

The Bio-Fuels Act mandates that the government should grant incentives for companies that will invest in the development and production of ethanol, bio-diesel and other plant-based fuels. The incentives are in the form of tax exemptions and concessional loans from government financing institutions.