The Senate has calendared Senate Bill 605, or “Bamboo Bill,” on July 19 for public hearing amid the government’s plan to speed up economic development, create livelihood and cushion the vulnerable poor population from climate disasters.
Authored by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, SB 605 or an “Act Institutionalizing the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Program” will create among the biggest agriculture industries in the country. Up to 55,000 hectares are currently planted with bamboo across the islands, Zubiri said.
Six other bamboo development-related bills will be deliberated in the Senate on July 19. The bills, which aim to strengthen functions of the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council, are expected to be consolidated with SB 605.
The bills are SB 615 (Senator Cynthia Villar), SB 1044 (Sen. Joel Villanueva), SB 1145 and SB 1552 (Senator Lito Lapid), SB 1118 (Senator Loren Legarda), SB 1145 (Win Gatchalian) and SB 2172 (Senator Jinggoy Estrada).
The bamboo is a unique Filipino cultural symbol because of the “bahay kubo” and the innovative industrial design works of Bobby Manosa and Kenneth Cobonpue.
The Philippines has the world’s fifth biggest bamboo industry. Yet, it has to keep up with the huge bamboo industries of China and Vietnam, said Zubiri. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) estimated the local market at $17 billion.
SB 605 fortifies PBIDC’s policy-making role in creating community-based enterprises that will have sufficient supply of quality materials and produce new products from research and development-inspired technologies.
Manufacturers under the bill are mandated to use bamboo on at least 25 percent of their raw materials inputs for furniture, lumber (wood processed into uniform sizes such as beams and planks), and manufactured products that can use bamboo as an alternative to wood.
Plantations will be accepted as loan collateral in government-owned-and-controlled financial institutions. Plantation developers and bamboo processors will have priority access to credit and guarantee.
Bamboo plantations will be exempted from security cutting, harvesting and transporting permits.
Markets will be created through aggressive trade promotion while the supply of trained and skilled labor will be stabilized.
The bill will promote a comprehensive program on bamboo nursery expansion, propagation, breeding, site-specific species development and sustainable planting, harvesting, soil and water conservation protocols.
Bamboo advocate and former House Deputy Speaker Deogracias Victor Savellano, currently vice chairman of PBIDC, said he hopes SB 605 will be ratified on or before the year ends.
“It is imperative that the industry that is so natural to us Filipinos can be developed sooner. It has been waiting for a long time now to help our poorest population. With bamboo, you don’t need big budget for infrastructure to address our climate-related ills—soil erosion and environmental degradation that are causes of natural disasters,” Savellano said.
“Bamboo will substantially support our farmers and fisherfolks. It supplies their need for simple devices like banana tree’s support pole or the katig (outrigger) in boats,” he said.
