Marcos seeks bigger perks for alternative energy use

08/29/2008

The government should extend tax incentive packages to energy stakeholders who will invest billions of pesos in gas-saving and environment-friendly manufacturing and electronic parts projects in the country, Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos III urged yesterday.

Marcos said the Arroyo administration should prioritize these tax perks to either local or foreign investors because of a pressing need to improve local factories which consumes a huge quantity of fossil oil and other petroleum products, which in turn emit pollutants.

He made this proposal to the executive department after learning that Filipino-owned Euro-Med Laboratories Inc. had secured tax holiday incentives from the Bureau of Investment (BoI) for its P1.3 billion fuel cell plant in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

The BoI has given tax benefits to the pioneer project of the pharmaceutical company because of the magnitude of investment. It falls under the retention, expansion and diversification program of the 2007 Investment Priorities Plan.

Euro-Med’s project aims to reduce its dependence on commercial fuels. It expects to save at least P48 million annually in Meralco power and other fuel consumption. Fuel Cell 2000, it said, would remit water as by-product.

“These tax incentives is necessary and timely as the situation on both fronts — dependence on fossil fuel and the environment — is approaching a critical stage if not already at that stage,” the neophyte congressman said.

According to Marcos, although the technology on fuel cells is not yet fully mature for commercial use, provision on incentives is “an expression of the national policy to search for sources of alternative energy.”

Except for granting tax incentives to local and foreign firms, he pointed out, that the government should also implement energy policies and innovative technologies to help reduce carbon emissions within the next dozen years.

Quoting the United Nation studies, the former Ilocos Norte governor said that the global food crisis will only worsen because of climate change. Climate change will also bring higher food prices, worsening water problems and more drought, study showed.

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