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Gov't To Build Jathropa Seed Centers, Refinery

PHILIPPINES - The Philippine National Oil Company – Alternative Fuels Corporation (PNOC-AFC) will start the first phase of the construction of seed collection centres, crude jathropha oil expelling facilities, and a biodiesel refinery this year.

The project is in line with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's bid to speed up the development and use of alternative fuels in the country.

President Arroyo has inspected yesterday the Jathropha Mega Nursery and Plantation in Nueva Ecija to show her government's commitment to have a supply of sufficient, efficient, cheap energy in the near-term to ensure that the country meets the demands of the growing economy.

The Nueva Ecija jathropa nursery is reported to be the biggest among the jathropha nurseries set up by the PNOC in military camps all over the country.

In her State of the Nation Address last year, the President recommended jathropha production not only as cleaner-fuel alternative to fossil-based or crude oil but, more importantly, as an energy source to lessen the country's dependence on imported crude oil.

The President was accompanied by Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro in her arrival at the PNOC–AFC's five-hectare jathropha mega nursery plantation.

The nursery is a PNOC subsidiary established to spearhead the accelerated propagation, use and commercialisation of alternative fuels in the country.

Also there to welcome the President were Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro, PNOC-AFC Chairman Renato Velasco, PNOC president and CEO Peter Abaya, and 7th ID commanding general Ralph Villanueva.

The President first endorsed jathropha (tuba-tuba) as a biofuel alternative to fossil fuel in the headquarters of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army (PA) on 3 June 2006.

Following her inspection of the jathropha seedlings, the President was briefed by Velasco on the status of jathropha nursery production inside the camp, where most of the jathropha plants grown in the nursery research and demonstration plantation are now six to 10 months old.

Velasco told the President that about 250 workers from three barangays (Dona Josefa in Palayan City, Bago in General Tinio, and Barrio Militar in Palayan City) have been hired by the PNOC to work in the five-hectare jathropha nursery plantation.

With the signing of Republic Act (RA) 9367 or the Biofuels Act of 2006, the President tasked the PNOC-AFC to spearhead biofuels propagation projects, starting with the planting of jathropha curcas, locally known as tuba-tuba, which is considered as the most viable feedstock for biodiesel production.

The alternative fuels programme is one of the five key components of the President's energy-independence agenda which hopes to make the country 60- percent energy self-sufficient by 2010.

TheBioenergySite News Desk