BACOLOD City – House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will address the appeal of local ethanol producers to import molasses, the feedstock used for bio-ethanol, in an oversight committee hearing.
Arroyo has scheduled the dialogue on April 25 after a letter was submitted to her during a briefing conducted at the plant site building of San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. in Negros Occidental (SCBI).
“I scheduled this dialogue to address the concern of SCBI’s insufficient feedstock and their plan to import fuel,” Arroyo said.
She noted SCBI is proposing to import feedstock (molasses) and export ethanol to address the dwindling supply of raw materials.
“I’m not the one who will make the final judgment because there are experts in the industry and in the government,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo, principal advocate of the Biofuels Act of 2006, said the meeting will be attended by the Department of Energy, Sugar Regulatory Administration, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, and bio-ethanol producers./PN
