Senator Miguel Zubiri said Saturday the two-year ban on the conversion of agriculture lands to real estate use is delaying the implementation of the Biofuels Act.

“Right now, we hit a certain snag because of moratorium of conversion of lands in all agricultural areas,” he said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently ordered a moratorium on the conversion of farm lands to address the need to increase the country's rice production.

Zubiri, principal author of Philippine Biofuels Law of 2006, said several investors want to put up biofuel plants but they are facing difficulties in land conversion.

He said that during the launching of the E85 car tomorrow, he will appeal to President Arroyo to allow conversion of at least 25 hectares for plant sites.

“We'll launch the E85 car that runs on 85 percent ethanol. But we have to import (these cars) from Brazil because we don't have local production. But we want to launch the idea. We want the public to know that there is an alternative fuel that is E85,” he added.

Zubiri, who attended the forum on the “Development of Renewable Energy Alternatives and Opportunities for Power Security in Negros Occidental,” said that if gasoline prices continue to rise and eventually reach P100 per liter, the sugar industry has to sacrifice.

“I believe that sugar industry should go pure ethanol and let's just import cheap sugar if the price is the problem. Then let's create a new demand for our sugar in Negros ,” he said. “Let's go into ethanol production to save our country. It will be now Negros that will save the country from high fuel cost.

Zubiri said that if the Philippines goes E85, the 2.2 million metric tons of sugar being produced right now can be converted to ethanol. It will be equivalent to 3.0 billion liters which is enough to supply 85 percent of the country's fuel needs, he said.

“The E85 (requirement) will be covered by the existing sugar production and I think that will be able to save our country from chaos. If the price of oil will each P100 per liter, it will cause panic,” the senator added.*NLG

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