The chairman of the Regional Development Council in the Cordillera (RDC-CAR) wants the region’s policy-making body to focus on renewable energy to spur economic growth while responsibly preserving and protecting the God-given resources.
Newly-installed RDC-CAR chair and Apayao Gov. Elias C. Bulut, Jr. stated the policy-making body’s direction is anchored on the latest pronouncement of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in the recently concluded 11th Arangkada Philippines Forum where he clearly said that the country must shift to renewables already and it must start now.
“As the constitutionally-mandated regional development partner of the President, we should follow his lead. We must train our sights to the development of renewable energy, of which our region is so blessed. It is a shame that we are not harnessing these God-given resources,” Bulut stressed.
The Apayao governor pointed out that while the Cordillera is considered the watershed cradle of Northern Luzon, ‘we just watch as water flows from the headwaters to the rivers and their tributaries.’
Earlier, the Department of Energy (DOE) estimated that CAR has the potential to supply 3,600 megawatts of clean electricity from hydroelectric sources and yet the region is only producing only 5 percent of the said potential.
However, he admitted that the development of renewable energy takes time where the President even considered that the renewable power plants that will be developed could go online after his term but this should not deter the Cordillera from starting these developments the soonest.
According to him, by focusing on renewable energy, local governments and agencies can improve their processes to comply with the Ease of Doing Business requirements as there is a law that gives incentives to the development and use of renewable energy and that local government units are not exempted from giving the said concessions to those who are willing and able to invest in the said business.
Bulut urged the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to find a way to conduct the free and prior informed process properly and efficiently so as not to discourage and drive away investors, the Cordillera being pre-dominated by indigenous peoples.
He emphasized that once renewable energy businesses are set up, employment opportunities arise, and economic activities will be revitalized pursuant to the RDC-CAR’s vision of a flourishing pace of development, especially in the depressed areas of the region.
Bulut underscored that renewable energy power plants are not cheap to build that is why foreign direct investments are needed to provide the needed capital to put up the plants, thus, concerned government agencies regulating the influx of money from overseas should come in handy in this said endeavor.
“We need to open our doors to possible investors who can help contribute to our regional economy and possibly provide sources of income to our fellow Cordillerans in line with the current administration’s thrust towards poverty reduction and job creation. We also believe that this is critical in ensuring fiscal stability towards a truly autonomous region,” Bulut added.
He explained that the focus on renewable energy does not have to mean that there will be building of power plants within their terms but what is important is for the government to improve every aspect of governance to provide investors a secure atmosphere for them to peacefully do business in certain areas regionwide.
Bulut cited that the net effect to the preparations is a marked and felt social development, including the special attention to the concerns of indigenous peoples.
He asserted that no renewable energy power plant will break ground without the necessary infrastructure to support it, thus, one of the priorities of the RDC-CAR is to facilitate the creation of a regionwide infrastructure plan.
The RDC-CAR chairman reminded the Cordillerans to keep in mind the preservation and protection of the environment towards a sustainable progress in the region aside from its overarching theme on environment and watershed protection.
Apayao is the Cordillera’s last frontier for nature’s richness as more of its neighboring Cordillera provinces gravitate towards urban development.
He stipulated the need for the region to have a comprehensive forest land use plan that will be also true to all local government units that will be provided with comprehensive maps to bolster the efforts of the government to preserve and protect the remaining forested areas regionwide.