SENATOR Pia Cayetano bats for the passage of a bill seeking the full development of the country’s natural gas industry.
With domestic gas, Cayetano said the Philippines will not be heavily dependent on foreign suppliers who may suddenly pull out to sell their gas to richer buyers elsewhere.
The senator expressed confidence that Filipino gas will provide the country energy security and sovereignty underpinning national economic development.
In a sponsorship speech on Tuesday, Cayetano urged her colleagues to act swiftly on Senate Bill No. 2793, or the proposed Philippine Natural Gas Development Act.
The measure mandates the priority dispatch of the country’s indigenous natural gas.
Cayetano also said the bill seeks to revitalize indigenous gas exploration and develop natural gas infrastructure.
“This bill provides for the prioritization of indigenous gas over other imported LNG (liquefied natural gas) and other conventional fuels in terms of use and the production of power,” said Cayetano.
The natural gas as baseload source, she emphasized, is less harmful to the environment and less volatile to international conflicts.
She stressed that the proposed law would also boost investor confidence in the Philippine economy as it would spur government commitment to industries that require heavy investments, like natural gas.
The bill would provide a market for indigenous gas by giving priority to its procurement and use for power generation, a policy already enshrined in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and successive issuances from EPIRA’s chief implementing agency, the Department of Energy (DOE).
This would assure investors of a market for the production of more wells, as the senator noted that the Philippines ranks lowest compared with other Southeast Asian countries in terms of natural gas discoveries.
“Malampaya was supposed to be the first of many producing gas fields in the Philippines, but it turned out to be the only one. It has grown old, and may become depleted as early as 2027. This poses a dilemma. To support the DOE’s long-term energy plan, the country needs more Malampayas; we barely have one left,” Cayetano said.
Malampaya provides stable-cost gas to power much of Luzon’s energy requirements for more than 20 years. It is the country’s first and only natural gas field, discovered in 1989.
Citing DOE policy, Cayetano also pointed out that natural gas would serve as a transition fuel during the Philippines’ shift to full renewable energy use.
“While the renewable energy industry is developing, natural gas can help decrease our dependence on imported coal and oil,” Cayetano said.
Besides Cayetano, 16 other senators backed the enactment of SB 2793. They are Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, Grace Poe, Mark Villar, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Ronald dela Rosa, Cynthia Villar, Christopher Go, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, Raffy Tulfo, Robinhood Padilla, Alan Peter Cayetano, Revilla Jr., and Manuelito Lapid.
