The energy renewable bill

Department of Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes has arrived from Bali , Indonesia after attending the UN-sponsored climate change conference.

He saw the seriousness of the problem and called for the passage by Congress of the renewable energy bill.

The bill, if enacted into a law, will provide incentives for investors to put their money in developing a renewable source of energy that “reduces harmful gas emissions from fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, thus promoting a green environment,” according to Reyes.

These incentives include exemptions from tariff duties and zero-rated value-added tax for the importation of machinery and equipment for the first 10 years of operation as well as tax credit on domestic capital equipment and service.

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Negros island is sitting atop a geothermal source. What we need here are investors to develop these geothermal sources which can supply, not only Negros island but also Panay .

The city of Bacolod , through its city council, has communicated with the Energy Regulatory Commission to disapprove the application of a coal-fired power plant.

The Diocese of Bacolod, led by Bishop Vicente Navarra is also filing its opposition. Read the one-page ad Tuesday signed by the Bishop and 71 priests.

More important than the environment problem is the cost. We have pointed out in this space the increasing cost of coal which is imported and non-renewable. And because it is non-renewable, it is subject to value-added tax and cannot give rebates to residential consumers like the renewable source.

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The opposition to this coal-fired power plant of Kepco-Salcon has been mounting. I was given some information on the poor record of Kepco-Salcon in other places but I cannot write about it yet.

I want to study it first. Meanwhile, the proponents of the Kepco-Ceneco deal have to be realistic to recognize the growing opposition to the deal after knowing the facts and the failure of the proponents to dispute these facts.

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Meanwhile, I want to greet those celebrating their birthdays today: Twinkling, my classmate in Iloilo , businessman Pepe Layson and my fellow Sunshine Boy here, Felicito Sanson, who, like Pepe Layson, also comes from Molo.

Our Sunshine Boys will be with Cito tonight and, for the first time, we will have a Battle Royale of trios. There are four trios to compete. The first and original trio is composed of Willy Mirano, Ric Yanson, and Pompey Querubin.

The second trio is composed of Toti Ramos, Marianing Tuvilla, and Nordy Diploma. The third is composed of Pope Jalando-on, Tony Sarabia, and Hermes Aguilar. And the fourth is composed of Jun Rio , Buc-an Yulo, and Alex Mirasol. Each believes he is the best.

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Don't suspect these Sunshine Boys of personal motive with my writing about them. You have nothing to fear that they will run for an elective position or compete with your business.

No other agenda. They are content with just laughing together every Sunday morning at breakfast at McDonald's and singing the night away at a member's birthday.

Last Sunday the two hours were spent arguing who will pay the P15,000 extra expense for the Boys' trip to Mindanao next year.

The group agreed the responsibility was on the two transportation magnates, Ric Yanson (land) and Nordy Diploma (sea). The presence of lawyers like Pompey Querubin, Willy Mirano, Buc-an Yulo, Pope Jalando-on and even Nordy himself was no help. It even muddled the issue that Nordy said, we need an arbiter. He appointed me and the decision of the arbiter was that Nordy Diploma pay. Solved! No appeal, no motion for reconsideration.

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Nordy is very generous. I was told when he had a hair cut, he was told by a girl, she saw him as a good singer on Sunshine Channel. Nordy gave her P200. Then all the girls said, they saw him, too, and agreed he is a good singer. They got P200 each also. Nordy was just happy that Sunshine Channel is popular.

Nordy is also a poet. Yesterday, he faxed me a poem of Longfellow, proper for poets. “All are architects of Fate,/ Working on these walls of Time;/ Some with massive deeds and great,/ Some are ornaments of rhyme.” Oh, Nordy! He is one friend I met who can memorize almost all the poems in high school.

In the Battle of Trios tonight, covered by Sunshine Channel, I have been appointed to chair the board of judges with two members, Don Manolo Lopez and Cito Sanson.

I was asked, where are their salas if they are judges. I readily answered in Jade Court 1 and Jade Court 2. I don't know where they are. And neither do Manolo and Cito. I only heard of that.*

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