PCCI lauds latest PBBM Cabinet appointments

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has lauded the appointments of energy and environment secretaries, amid the various challenges the country’s facing on power and environment sectors.

PCCI, in a news statement issued on Friday, welcomed the appointments of Raphael “Popo” Lotilla and Ma. Antonia “Toni” Yulo-loyzaga as chiefs of the Department of energy (DOE) and Department of environment and Natural Resources (DENR), respectively.

“We welcome and congratulate the newly-named Cabinet secretaries on their well-deserved appointments. We trust that with their competence, vast experiences, and expertise, both will deliver and perform well in serving the people and our country,” said PCCI President George T. Barcelon.

The country’s energy sector is currently facing a looming crisis in fuel and power supply and this has affected the business sector in forecasting energy cost in their operations.

The PCCI chief noted that the country can utilize its abundant resources to compensate for the high energy and commodity imports.

“We have vast mineral resources including minerals such as nickel, gold, copper, iron ore and forest within our shores. exploring and making full use of these resources can bring in much needed foreign earnings to cover high energy and essential commodity imports,” said Barcelon as he highlighted the energy and environment departments’ important roles.

Barcelon stressed that the PCCI, through its energy and environment Committee, has crafted recommendations for short to medium and long-term plans to help the government address issues in the energy and environment sectors.

“The Chamber has been actively meeting to come up with proposals on how to balance a stable economy and healthy environment as we make full use of our mineral resources,” added Barcelon.

On Monday, PCCI urged the government to expedite the exploration of indigenous resources. Barcelon lamented the lack of aggressiveness in oil and near-field exploration, even as the Malampaya gas field is expected to run dry by 2027.

In a separate statement issued on Monday, the PCCI chief raised the urgency of prospecting and developing the country’s indigenous oil and natural gas resources as domestic supply dwindles and prices at the international market skyrocket.

Citing the experience of the Philippines’ neighboring countries, the PCCI chief noted that they were able to develop domestic fuel resources by drilling more wells. hence, Barcelon said, the country needs to expedite petroleum exploration.

For his part, Carlos Ramon Aboitiz, chairman of PCCI’S Industry Committee, suggested starting with near-field exploration for natural gas around SC-38 (Malampaya), potentially with a quick win since the platform and pipeline are already in the vicinity.

In relation to the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG), Frank Carbon, PCCI’S Director for energy and Power said introducing LNG in the country’s energy and power generation mix will contribute to its diversity and help the country better deal with upheavals in supply and demand and reduce risks of being overly dependent on a single type of fuel like coal.

Meanwhile, Jose Alejandro, Chairman of the energy and Power Committee, underscored the importance of security of supply and affordability of power, noting that these are engines of growth. Alejandro suggested the creation of a team that will focus mainly on examining price stability to drive competitiveness in the country.