BACOLOD City Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chair of the City Council committee on energy, welcomed the approval of the Renewable Energy (RE) Bill.

Sigue said that a few weeks prior to RE's approval and signing by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last December 16, the City Council passed a resolution appealing for the immediate passage of RE.

Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo

Visayas has been declared by the Department of Energy (DOE) as the country's RE Center with more than 80 percent of the electricity demand of the region is supplied by a geothermal source.

Since the mid 1990s, the provinces of Negros Occidental, Antique and Iloilo have successfully rejected applications for coal-fired power plants. Burning of fossil fuels like coal and petroleum is the primary contributor to greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

Arroyo earlier certified the bill as urgent, citing the need to institute concrete steps to address global warming and climate change.

She said it is very important "to address a public emergency arising from the urgent need to achieve sustainable development of our country through environmental sustainability and energy self-sufficiency with the increasing demand for energy need to sustain the country's economic growth."

Sigue, meanwhile, believed the City Council should seriously look into the power situation in the city.

Taking into consideration the environmental aspect, the alderman said: "we have to consider other sources. In a recent activity in Iloilo City, they determined and considered Negros (Occidental) to have a very high potential for wind and solar energy."

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes has said: "the future is in clean, renewable energy, which has been predicted to be one of the biggest industries in the next five years. The benefits of renewable energy are considerable. It will foster sustainable growth, energy independence and economic security for the country and unite us with the global effort to stop climate change."

The government is expecting an estimated US$1.23 billion investment on renewable energy.

"This measure will ultimately ensure a market for renewable energy and provide a system that will allow consumers to choose green sources of energy in the long term," Reyes said. (MAP)

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(December 27, 2008 issue)
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