Press Release
March 21, 2007

Test biofuel on government cars - Recto

Government should use its 68,437 vehicles as experimental fleet for biofuel use to show to the public the merits of shifting to fuel blended with ethanol or cocodiesel.

The suggestion was made by Sen. Ralph Recto who said that by having government-owned cars as demonstration units in the run up to the full implementation of the biofuels law three years from now all doubts by motorists on the effectiveness of alternative fuels will be answered.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The proof that biofuel works is to make its proponent use it. The government must patronize the product of its own policies," he said.

Gasoline sold three years from the signing of the Biofuels Law should be blended with five percent ethanol while mandatory blending of all diesel sold with one percent cocodiesel shall take effect three months after enactment of the landmark legislation.

Recto urged Malacanang to hit the ground running on its biofuels campaign by ordering that a sizeable percentage of government-owned cars run on ethanol-blended gas and cocodiesel.

Before we ask our poor jeepney drivers to buy cocodiesel, perhaps we can show them that SUVs owned by the government, especially by government corporations, run fine on this kind of fuel, he said.

If possible, this should start with the car that sports the no.1 plate. The message we would like to convey is that if its good for the President's BMW then it must be good for all, Recto said, referring to the plate number assigned to the President of the Philippines.

In making his proposal, Recto noted that the efficacy of alternative fuels has been the subject of a lot of debate even within the automotive industry. The best way to demolish these misconceptions is to let actual units running on biofuels be seen on the road.

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