Energy, tourism to benefit from trip of President

MANILA -- The Philippines power and tourism sectors are among those that will benefit from the trip of President Rodrigo R. Duterte in Russia last October 1 to 5.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told journalists Tuesday that potential investments from the recent foreign trip of the Chief Executive “is quite significant”, although he declined to indicate figures. “You have to remember that we don’t have a big relationship with Russia and I think that the trip of the President opened the avenues for increased contact with Russians like tourism investments here. They’re very interested in looking at our infrastructure projects, particularly in power,” he said. Dominguez said possible investments in the power sector include those for power distribution and generation, as well as for renewable energy (RE). “In fact, we spoke to one of their energy companies. I forget the name but they have extensive wind power. Russia is a big country so there’s a lot of opportunity,” he added. Possible power sector investments are a plus for the Philippines especially after the President, in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July, pushed for the fast-tracking of RE resources in a bid to lessen the country’s dependence on traditional sources like coal. The Department of Energy (DOE) targets to increase the share of RE on total power source to about 35 percent by 2030. This, as the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 provides for the harmonization of policies for development of technologies that would benefit wind, hydropower, solar, ocean, and biomass energy. (PNA)