E-vehicles, the next big thing?
abs-cbnNEWS.com
November 25, 2010, Updated as of 11/26/2010 3:27 AM

MANILA, Philippines – Electric vehicles (E-vehicles) could be the next big thing in the country’s automotive industry, advocates and businessmen believe.

Leading figures from the private sector, the government, non-government organizations (NGOs), and the academe have vowed to fast-track and scale up the development of e-vehicles in the country.

They made the vow at the conclusion on Wednesday of the first national summit on e-vehicles.

“The market for electric vehicles in the Philippines is big enough for all. In Mindanao, the potential is particularly promising,” said Ariel Torres, chief executive officer of Alternative Modern Transport.

His company co-sponsored the 2-day summit, which secured support from more than 250 participants from national agencies, city governments, banks, businesses, civil society groups, and international industry associations.

The summit took place at Meralco, which helped put together the meeting.

“The summit ended on a full charge, with robust plans, new alliances and investor interest,” said Red Constantino, executive director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC).

“This gathering was about solutions and all representatives from the public and private sector contributed positively, from titans of local industry to jeepney driver associations,” he added.

Constantino’s group has already rolled out e-jeepneys in Makati City and Puerto Princesa City.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) co-organized the summit.

“Harnessing the potential of the market is critical to the country’s response to the climate crisis. Sustainable transport is a key component that can greatly help manage climate change risks and at the same time contribute to the development goals of the Philippines,” said WWF climate change head Gia Ibay.

Top officials who graced the event include Vice-President Jejomar Binay, Meralco president Manuel Pangilinan, and Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Aristotle Batuhan.

Batuhan opened the event’s second day, which tackled regulatory and financing issues, along with challenges posed by battery development and charging stations. #

Electric vehicle program gets boost from summit
Ayen Infante, The Daily Tribune

Pasig City, November 25, 2010 - Pledges from leading figures from the private sector, the government, non-government organizations (NGOs) and the academe to scale up and accelerate electric vehicle development were made during the conclusion yesterday of the country’s first electric vehicle summit.

“The summit ended on a full charge, with robust plans, new alliances and investor interest. This gathering was about solutions and all representatives from the public and private sector contributed positively, from titans of local industry to jeepney driver associations,” Red Constantino, executive director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, said.

Gia Ibay, climate change head of the World Wide Fund for Nature, which co-organized the event, says, “Harnessing the potential of the market is critical to the country’s response to the climate crisis. Sustainable transport is a key component that can greatly help manage climate change risks and at the same time contribute to the development goals of the Philippines.”

Aiming to craft a long-term road map for the electric vehicle industry, the two-day summit garnered support from over 250 participants from national agencies, city governments, banks and businesses, civil society groups and international industry associations. The summit took place at Meralco, which helped put together the meeting.

Meralco president Manuel Pangilinan opened the event followed by Vice President Jejomar Binay, who delivered the summit’s keynote speech.

“The market for electric vehicles in the Philippines is big enough for all. In Mindanao, the potential is particularly promising,” notes Ariel Torres, CEO of Alternative Modern Transport, a summit sponsor.

Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Aristotle Batuhan opened the event’s second day, which tackled regulatory and financing issues, along with challenges posed by battery development and charging stations. #

Photo by Taweng Attunaga/iCSC

Meralco commits to assist e-vehicle program
Paul Anthony A. Isla, 23 November 2010
BusinessMirror

FINANCING electric jeepneys and tricycles remain to be the biggest challenge most operators face, Red Constantino, executive director of the Institute of Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC) said on Tuesday.

“The biggest challenge is in the realm of financing. People can go to banks and get financing for SUVs at the expense of polluting the environment,” Constantino said at the sidelines of the First Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit.

He also pointed out that it’s high time local commercial banks open closed windows of lending opportunities for private sector, electric jeepney and tricycle operators and local government.

Constantino said lending to electric- vehicle operators enables the owners and other stakeholders to spread out the cost and accelerate the deployment of electric-vehicle applications.

He added that the government also plays a huge role in the program.

“Any signal it provides is something the private sector will respond to. For us, the electric vehicles program is an opportunity to making the solutions for tomorrow available to Filipinos today,” he added.

Vice President Jejomar Binay said it took two years to register the electric jeepneys plying around Makati City with the Land Transportation Office.

Binay said the local transportation regulatory body still has lots of room for improvement, particularly for electric vehicles.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) president and chief executive, committed to help finance the country’s electric-vehicle program.

Pangilinan said Vincent Perez, former Energy secretary and now World Wide Fund-Philippines (WWF-Philippines) chairman, estimated that the program would need 5 million.

“Perez mentioned an amount of 5 million needed for three years, I’m not sure, though if that’s in dollars or pesos,” the Meralco president said in jest.

Pangilinan quickly added that Meralco would definitely help, particularly a local industry that develops e-jeepneys and e-tricycles.

He also noted that Meralco could look into setting up charging stations where electric vehicles could recharge their batteries and they will have enough supply to meet the demand for electricity. #

Photo by Nonoy Lacza/BusinessMirror

Coming soon: commercial use of e-jeepneys
By Jessica Anne D. Hermosa, Senior Reporter
BusinessWorld, November 23, 2010

ELECTRIC JEEPNEYS may soon become more commonplace as proponents are looking at commercial use of the so-called "green" transports roughly a year after they first started plying public roads.

The government is poised to issue the first franchise next year, speakers at yesterday’s Electric Vehicle Summit claimed, thus allowing operators to run e-jeepneys for profit.

Coupled with the cheaper option of retrofitting existing jeepneys instead of buying brand new, this should prod drivers and operators to make the shift, they added.

But the speakers also continued to call for government incentives, banking support, and even public readiness to pay a premium to complete the transition.

"Lately, we’ve developed conversion. It’s a concept we want to use on passenger jeepneys," said Ferdinand I. Raquelsantos, president of electric jeepney assembler PhUV, Inc., at the event.

Interested jeepney owners need to shell out just P250,000 to have an electric system installed instead of the P625,000 for a brand new battery-powered vehicle, Mr. Raquelsantos said.

With savings of P3.15 per kilometer from nixing diesel, he claimed that electric jeepney operators would be able to earn back their investment in three years, thereafter enjoying a doubling of revenues.

The government, in turn, is expected to issue the first electric jeepney franchise next year to allow their commercial use, said Renato Redentor Constantino, director of the Filipino nonprofit Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, at the sidelines of the event.

While the vehicles have been allowed to take to public roads, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has yet to authorize drivers to collect fares from their operation, Mr. Constantino explained.

This is why the e-jeepney fleet currently running on "green routes" in the Makati business district continuous to offer free rides, he told BusinessWorld, with revenues from advertising on the vehicles’ bodies and donations funding the effort in the meantime.

"Now we’re in the commercial viability phase. We’re on the verge of launching the first electric vehicle franchise," Mr. Constantino said.

Financing, however, still remains a hurdle with jeepney operators reluctant to make an investment, the speakers said.

"The biggest challenge lies in the realm of financing. People can go to banks to get financing for SUVs (sport utility vehicles). It should be time enough for banks to finance electric vehicles too," Mr. Constantino said.

Various schemes were proposed, ranging from using tradeable carbon credits as bank collateral to even hiking household power rates to subsidize the vehicles.

"[The] government is a huge player itself. The signals it provides is something the private sector will respond to," Mr. Constantino said.

The Metro Manila Development Authority, for instance, could sweeten the transition by exempting electric jeepneys from the color-coding scheme, Mr. Raquelsantos said. Income tax holidays for manufacturers would also help lower the vehicles’ prices, he added.

The country’s largest power distributor, Manila Electric Co., even heaped its support with a vague promise "to help" from its CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan, who declined to elaborate.

"More than technology, its’ about partnership and our ability to work together," Mr. Constantino said. #

Photo By Jonathan L. Cellon

PNoy lauded for replacing Alvarez as CCC vice chair
Danilova Molintas, November 22, 2010
GMAnews.tv

A nonprofit group actively working with government to shape fair climate change and sustainable development policies in the Philippines praised President Benigno Aquino III for replacing former Sen. Heherson Alvarez as vice chairman of the Climate Change Commission (CCC).

Lawyer Mary Ann Lucille Sering, former undersecretary of the environment department, took her oath Monday afternoon as the new CCC vice chairperson, in ceremonies administered by the President in Malacañang.

“We applaud the President for his quick action even as we challenge the (Commission’s) new leadership to decisively arrest the governance chaos that has for far too long plagued the administration of climate finance, which enters the country's coffers from abroad," said Red Constantino, director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC).

"It is only proper that PNoy exercises a free hand in choosing his alter ego in the CCC, which he heads as the chairperson," Constantino said.

iCSC, which works on sustainable energy solutions and fair climate policy issues, leads the campaign to establish direct-access driven, just, long-term adaptation finance for the country’s most vulnerable communities.

The group is also the proponent of the pioneering Climate-Friendly Cities (CFC) initiative that integrates waste management, energy generation and sustainable transport programs for sustainable, climate-resilient city and community development.

The popular electric jeepneys, or eJeepneys that ply Makati and other cities, is a central part of the CFC initiative.

Alvarez had been widely criticized by the climate change groups for “usurping authority’ and acting “unilaterally" on climate change issues.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad vowed on Nov. 17 to ask the President to step into the long-simmering leadership crisis at the CCC.

GMANews.TV tried contacting Alvarez for his reaction to no avail.

Hopeful

With a new vice chairperson appointed to the CCC, Constantino said that climate change groups have more hope that their issues will be prioritized in the Aquino administration's planning and budgetary processes.

“Kailangan ng bayan ng depensa laban sa climate change (the country needs a defense against climate change), and with the changes in the Commission, the Aquino government has taken a major step forward," Constantino said.

“Commissioner Sering brings with her a formidable expertise in management and a nuanced understanding of climate negotiations, which will be critical during the next round of talks in Cancun, Mexico this December," the iCSC director said.

“We also hope she will champion the People's Survival Fund (PSF) bill which was filed by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and which we hope will be certified by PNoy as urgent legislation," he said.

HB 3528 or the PSF bill aims to establish a fund dedicated to vulnerable local governments and communities struggling to adapt to the rapidly changing climate."

The PSF is a ‘rewards’ fun: vulnerable localities that craft climate change adaptation projects or plans can access the PSF. The PSF thus incentivizes local climate action."

The funds that make up the PSF can come from sources such as portions from Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (road tax), cash dividends from all government-owned and controlled operations, credits earned under the Clean Development Mechanism, and contributions from other private, public, foreign, and local sources.

He also said his group congratulates the government for recognizing that it cannot and should not confront the climate crisis on its own.

“The pursuit of low carbon development and the channeling of finance to vulnerable communities requires the critical collaboration of all Filipinos."

"We hope the new Commission will engage civil society organizations more closely and meaningfully and that there will be more coherence in the body's handling of climate finance.

Not consulting

Earlier, Constantino had taken Alvarez to task for not “consult(ing) anyone, including the President, his fellow CCC commissioners and the other agencies."

Criticisms reached a peak when a mix-up occurred in the official Philippine choice of which nation to endorse to host the 2012 Global Climate Change Summit.

The diplomatic faux pas arose when Alvarez endorsed South Korea as the host of the 2012 summit, when the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had already endorsed Qatar months earlier.

The 2012 summit on climate change is the 18th annual meeting of nations who have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The UNFCCC, an international environmental treaty drafted at the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aims to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to levels that would prevent climate change.

Since 1992, nations that have signed the treaty have met annually to discuss the progress of the goals.

South Korea and Qatar have both expressed interest in hosting COP-18.

Alvarez had announced that CCC was inclined to support South Korea, but the DFA had already committed the country’s support for Qatar.

“Alvarez is acting as if he is the Commission," Constantino said. “This is wrong."

“I think he has usurped the authority of the commission and the president for the last time," he added.

Alvarez, who was a former secretary of the agrarian reform and environment departments, as well as Isabela representative and senator, has been widely criticized for allegedly taking over the CCC’s chairmanship and making important decisions without consultations.

Alvarez was appointed by former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Secretary of the CCC, acting as the Vice Chair to the President and Executive Director of the climate change office on Dec. 1, 2009.

The Climate Change Act of 2009 which created the Climate Change Commission designates the President as the chairperson.

Aside from Sering and Alvarez, the other commission members are Naderev "Yeb" Sano, a former climate campaigner at the World Wildlife Fund.

Earlier, Alvarez defended his support of Korea, saying “climate change is a daunting survival issue. For its environment dimension, we expressed our choice of Korea."

“But the matter is yet to be worked out and decided in Cancun," he added.

“This is an issue of engaging and overarching national interest," he noted. “The determination of where the national interest lies in this issue will always be the prerogative of the Chief Executive, and we will always abide by that determination," he said. #

Photo of Commissioner Sering addressing the participants of the EV Summit by Taweng Attunaga/iCSC

‘People’s Survival Fund’ Bill pushed to help victims of climate change
By Gina Abuyuan, November 18, 2010
Yahoo! Southeast Asia

SURIGAO CITY, Surigao – The subject of the film “An Inconvenient Truth,” an award-winning documentary about global warming and the man who made it a buzzword, ex-U.S. vice president Al Gore, is more than a conversation piece here in Mindanao.

It’s a daily reality for those making their living off the land and sea, and whose livelihoods have been adversely affected by climate change.

It’s also the anchor on which a new bill has been written: Known as the People’s Survival Fund (PSF) or HB 3528, the bill aims to ”establish a fund dedicated to vulnerable local governments and communities struggling to adapt to the rapidly changing climate.”

It was filed initially Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who describes it as a “legacy bill,” as future generations are certain to be impacted by climate change.

Representative and Deputy Speaker Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III (4th district of Quezon) works closely with Enrile and explained it today to participants in an event entitled ‘Depensa: Climate Adaptation Financing and Risk Reduction Initiatives in Mindanao.’

“The Philippines is one of the highest risk-prone areas in the world,” Tañada says. “The impact of climate change falls most heavily on people who have the LEAST to do with climate change.”

As it is, local governments have to divert funds allotted for education, health, and agriculture, to disaster management. Most funds that come for that purpose are either from charity or aid from foreign governments. “We need a long-term, predictable, and transparent source of funds to make LGUs more resilient,” Tañada said.

According to a statement prepared by Oxfam and iCSC (Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities), “The PSF is a ‘rewards’ fun: vulnerable localities that craft climate change adaptation projects or plans can access the PSF. The PSF thus incentivizes local climate action.”

Tañada says that the funds that make up the PSF can come from sources such as portions from Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (road tax), cash dividends from all government-owned and controlled operations, credits earned under the Clean Development Mechanism, and contributions from other private, public, foreign, and local sources.

“We want early passage, in current congress,” says iCSC executive director Renato Redentor Constantino. “The next step to be taken is that PNoy must certify it as priority legislation.”

“You may have the best climage change adapation strategy, but the bottomline (is still important),” says Tañada. “If the sources of funding are not made available, our efforts are meaningless.

“Kelangan natin ng pondo sa depensa, depensa para sa climate change. Hindi tayo magpapatalo sa pagbabago ng klima (We need funds for our fight against climate change. We will not be defeated by it.” #

Photo by Jose Enrique Soriano/iCSC. Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Lorenzo "Erin"Tañadadelivers the keynote address at the landmark launching of Depensa! held in Surigao City last November 18, 2010, a campaign spearheaded by iCSC, Oxfam and Dakila.

Depensa launched in Surigao City
Bong D. Fabe, CBCP News, Business Mirror

SURIGAO City, Nov. 18, 2010 — A community-driven campaign for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction was launched here with the optimism that Congress passes House Bill 3825 or the ‘People’s Survival Fund (PSF)’ as an urgent measure to allocate much-needed funding to address the damages by disasters occurring in the country.

The campaign, dubbed Depensa, which was spearheaded by Oxfam and the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC), aims to create high community awareness and action on the need for climate change adaptation and to call on government to take the lead in protecting public welfare and advancing real sustainable development in a climate changing world.

H.B. 3825 seeks to establish a fund dedicated to vulnerable local government and communities struggling to adapt to the rapidly changing climate provided that plans are crafted as to how the identified local communities behave to the climate change adaptation.

"The PSF is critical to communities, who should not have to wait for the occurrence of climate change-induced calamities before they are able to access funds to cope with anticipated climatic impacts,” said HB 3825 author, Congressman Lorenzo Tanada III, who was the guest of honor of the event.

PSF, which is also a ‘rewards’ fund, would be a source of support for activities of the disaster prone communities to conduct activities such as: farming localities to developing a small water impounding projects in anticipation of extreme drought or installing structures that reduce the harm of flashfloods; need to plant other crops that are more resilient to climate change; and coastal communities whose fishing livelihood may be displaced due to the rising sea levels.

“In Mindanao, the impacts of climate change are increasingly felt from extreme weather events that cause floods or severe drought, especially in the areas of Agusan Sur, Agusan Norte, and Sultan Kudarat, adversely affecting agricultural production and settlements. On the other hand, coastal communities in Surigao Sur are in danger of rising sea and tidal levels,” according the Marie Madamba-Nunez of Oxfam.

Oxfam’s Mindanao Program currently supports partners in ensuring that sustainable livelihoods of small rural producers are protected and resilient from natural and human-induced disasters in selected areas in the region.
Climate change impacts in the Philippines are expected to intensify the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, which are projected to hit vulnerable communities, particularly women in rural areas, disproportionately.

Most of the deadliest and damaging typhoons that hit the Philippines occurred in the last two decades, with an estimated cost of over P92 billion in direct damages. Yet the cost of devastation brought about just by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng to crops, property and infrastructure was estimated to be around P207 Billion. Costs linked to the devastation wrought by typhoon Juan reached almost P12 billion, largely hitting rice production.

“These figures are staggering. If we do not have these destructive typhoons, we could have used it to other projects but are diverted instead to disaster response and rehabilitation,” Tanada said.

"We expect the Depensa! campaign to contribute key lessons and opportunities during this critical time, when government is undertaking discussions about the country's budget and its medium-term development plan," said Red Constantino of ICSC.

Depensa was launched here because this city, as well as almost all provinces and municipalities of Caraga Region, is a disaster-prone area. #