The Phillipines has 3.5 million coconut farmers and 56,000 sugar cane farmers and the “passage into law of the Biofuels Act is guaranteed to give a significant boost for our rebounding agriculture sector and raise rural incomes, while developing markets and demands for our sugar and coconut industries,” said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

Secretary Yap said that the measure would not only ease the country’s dependence on dollar-draining imported fossil fuel but would help energize the countryside and help raise incomes for farmers and workers in the sugar and coconut industries. 

R.A. No. 9367 otherwise known as the Biofuels Act of 2006 will promote the use of alternative transport fuels consistent with the Declaration on East Asian Energy Security ratified by the 16 heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its dialogue partners during the just-concluded 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo affixed her signature on the new law, along with Senate President Manuel Villa and House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. during the ceremonial signing held at Malacanang’s Rizal Hall, recently.

The Agriculture Secretary said that with this positive development, the Agriculture Department will speed up its ongoing efforts with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to pinpoint some 200,000 hectares of farmlands devoted to other crops that can otherwise be planted to sugarcane, and which investors can consider as investment sites for ethanol projects.

The DA said that the new law will serve as a strong impetus for the SRA to work on programs that will boost local sugarcane production, as a way to ensure the local ethanol production will not adversely affect the domestic supply of the sweetener for local human consumption as well as for its traditional export commitment to the US market.

The DA through the Philippine Coconut Authority would at the same time find ways to develop an additional 122,000 hectares of coconut lands to meet the demand for Coconut Methyl Ester or coco diesel under the law, the DA press report further said.

Biofuel refers to bioethanol and biodiesel and other fuels made from biomass and primarily used for motive, thermal, and power generation with quality specifications in accordance with the Philippine National Standards.