Press Release
September 10, 2011

ANGARA CALLS FOR URGENT RE INVESTMENTS

Senator Edgardo J. Angara again urged the administration to invest in developing and promoting renewable energy (RE) systems in the country in light of new fuel price hikes.

Angara, Chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, made the statement amid calls to repeal the Oil Deregulation Law.

"Putting caps on increases during emergency situations or lifting the VAT on oil may only momentarily bring down the price of fuel. But costs will inevitably rise given that worldwide supply is dwindling fast. The real issue that needs to be addressed is our persistent dependence on foreign-sourced fossil fuels for our energy needs," said the veteran lawmaker.

Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that oil prices will rise by 30 percent within the next three years. IEA economist Fatih Birol said that the world's crude oil production peaked in 2006.

The economist said that, "The existing fields are declining so sharply that in order to stay where we are in terms of production levels in the next 25 years, we have to find and develop four new Saudi Arabias."

Angara noted that according to the World Energy Outlook 2010 of the IEA, world electricity demand is expected to grow more strongly than any other form of final energy, growing at around 2.2 percent per year between 2008 and 2035. Eighty percent of this increase is said to come from non-OECD countries like the Philippines.

"Our energy demands will only continue to expand, as our population grows and our economy develops. We need to focus on tapping other energy sources like solar, wind, hydro and even algae for biofuels," said Angara, chair of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE).

Angara was the lead author of RA 9513, the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, which promotes the establishment of an RE industry in the Philippines. With COMSTE, Angara has been pushing for the establishment of the Renewable Energy Research and Development Institute (RERDI) as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in developing RE technologies.

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