House leaders urge Senate to act on bill setting PH natural gas policy

It's high time for the Senate to act on a proposed law that would lay down State policy for the full development of the Philippine natural gas industry. Thus, said Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda and Marinduque lone district Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, authors of House Bill (HB) No.8456 or the the proposed Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Industry (PDNGI) Development Act.

Salceda and Velasco, chairmen of the Committee on Ways and Means and Committee on Energy, respectively, underscored that the measure was a legislative priority of President

Marcos as previously mentioned in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) and identified by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).

"It is a LEDAC and SONA priority, so I hope the Senate acts on it and we enact it before the midterms,” said Salceda, an economist.

“The base version of the Senate bill under deliberation is the House version, so more or less I expect no major differences once it gets out of committee and plenary," he noted.

Natural gas produces 32 to 40 percent less emission than coal when used for power generation, Salceda said. “It could help the transition away from coal as we wait for renewables to become cheaper and more dependable as baseload."

He underscored the need for legislation to put in place a “full value chain with proper infrastructure.” Also, he said safeguards should be made part of the State’s natural gas policy since “the key issue with natural gas is methane emissions".

“There are ways to get rid of that, but you have to do it through the whole value-chain," Salceda said.

He said the bill’s enactment into law would sharply reduce Philippine dependence on imported fuel. "We can't just be an importer and not have a regulatory regime or complementary infrastructure after importation. We need this law."

Meanwhile, Velasco said the proposed legislation would promote the Philippines as a liquefied natural gas (LPG) trading and transshipment hub in Asia Pacific.

"The bill aims to promote the role of natural gas as a safe, environmentfriendly, efficient and cost-effective source of energy," Velasco, former Speaker, said in the bill's explanatory note.

He laments the lack of clear, comprehensive and integrated policies on the natural gas industry, which "is detrimental to the thrust of the Department of Energy (DOE) to attract foreign investors to our natural gas potentials or importation or transmission of the same".

HB No.8456 mandates the DOE to be the lead government agency in the proposed PDNGI.

The DOE'S role in the development of the Philippines’ natural gas industry will include supervision and monitoring of the proposed system.

It would also regulate construction and operation of natural gas pipelines and other facilities for the transmission and supply of natural gas.

It gives the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) sole regulatory authority for setting rates and other terms covering natural gas supply.