Zubiri challenges biofuels oppositors to debate
Straightens facts on Philippines' biofuels program

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri challenged oppositors of the Philippines' biofuels program "to a debate anywhere in Manila or in the sugar capital of Bacolod and Iloilo ."

"With all due respect to the Nobel Laureate Dr. Hartmut Michel, I would like to explain that the situation in the Philippines is much more different than that in the United States and Europe . In the US , the feedstock for bioethanol production is corn and in Europe the feedstocks for biodiesel production are soybeans and sunflower," Zubiri said.

The Philippines biofuels program is patterned after the Brazil model using sugar cane for producing bioethanol and that of India using jatropha for biodiesel.

Under the Biofuels Act, the "Department of Agriculture is mandated to make sure steps are taken so that biofuels production won't eat into our food supply and will not affect our food security."

On Michels' claim that competing uses for land may jeopardize the country's ability to feed its population, Zubiri said, "We will tap one million hectares of idle government land to plant jatropha. These are tracts of land we see in the countryside with nothing planted on them except cogon grass. We will also utilize local jatropha production to lessen our dependence from imported diesel products."

"This will not only be about biodiesel production but also about livelihood, employment and reforestation programs all rolled into one. This is the key to the development of our countryside."

"As to bioethanol production, we don't need to tap other lands but use areas already planted to sugar. Sugar is not a basic food source, it is an additive, and so won't compete directly with the population's food requirement."

Zubiri stressed that the biofuels program will also deal with socio-economic problems not just environmental safety and energy security.

"We should also consider that the sugar industry is now experiencing a slump because of the low prices worldwide. Sugar from Thailand is now 20 percent cheaper than our sugar and, with this price, it would kill the industry and render five million people jobless in the provinces of Negros, Iloilo , Bukidnon, Tarlac, Pampanga and Batangas."

"Will Dr. Michel care to answer that problem? Would he be willing to provide for 5 million workers and farmers who will eventually suffer from the low world price of sugar ?"

"The bioethanol program is turning sugar into a high value crop. We expect incomes and salaries to increase from this high-value crop. With their higher income, the sugar workers can buy any food item they want like steak and poultry."

"What we want to achieve is a higher standard of living for our people in the countryside and produce biofuels without being subjected to OPEC's $100 per barrel gasoline."

Zubiri cited the case of Brazil which was "able to increase its per capita income by ten-fold from its biofuels program. If we apply the brakes without studying the implications or even assumptions of such a dampening move, we will be stepping backwards that would leave our people with marginalized incomes."

"We have learned from the mistakes of others and we are not about to repeat them here in our country."