Energy: Top Government Concern for the 1980s

Prime Minister Cesar Virata spoke at the inaugural breakfast meeting of MBC in November 1981

The government intends to pump P43 billion in investments in a bid to reach the 50% domestic sourcing of energy consumption by 1986. The coconut levy may yet have to remain, but its further reduction can still be made.

These were two of the many issues tackled by Prime Minister Cesar Virata during the inaugural breakfast meeting of the Makati Business Club at the Hotel InterContinental on 9 November. Before some 200 businessmen who responded to MBC’s invitation a month ago, Virata also talked at length about the salient features of the government’s development plan for the next five years (1983–1987), scheduled for deliberation by the Batasang Pambansa this month.

Energy Developments

The government envisions a total investment of P63 billion in energy-related projects by 1990 in an “acceleration plan” that hopes to see the Philippines less dependent on foreign-sourced energy and freer to solve its other socioeconomic problems.

Expressing optimism that the targets are attainable, Virata said the plan calls for the installation and acceleration of more hydroelectric systems; geothermal systems, with corresponding improvements in their transmission systems; coal conversion systems; coal-fired and dendrothermal plants; and fuel mixtures projects.

He also said that the government will continue with its diplomatic efforts to obtain the best package out of the changing situation in the Middle East.

He explained that the government thrust on energy is intended to ease up the government’s energy expenditures, which could have been spent on the other aspects of the economy. Citing an example, he said that the energy crisis has eaten up the resources that could have been spent on developments in transport and communication. For one, he hoped that the build-up of equity of the National Power Corporation would soon stop.

Coconut Levy

On another issue, Virata injected an element of calm when asked about the restoration of the coconut levy, for weeks the subject of a raging controversy. Told that the levy restoration runs counter to government efforts to widely distribute the benefits of development, Virata said that while the levy may have to stay, a further reduction may still be made.

In his observation, the plunging world price of copra and the large coconut harvest due to favorable weather last year all contributed to a coconut supply that far exceeded its demand.

To alleviate the situation, Virata batted for efforts at diversifying the use of coconut oil. He discussed that various experiments have been done to make coconut oil the base of new fuel mixtures.

Development Priorities

On the other features of the development plan, Virata said that food, industry, distribution of the benefits of development, transport and communication, and social development are the priorities.

In attaining food self-sufficiency, Virata said that a new land resources policy will have to be evolved to consider the growth in population. He said that population is expected to reach 75 million by year 2000 and 115 million by 2030. The use of land will have to be so evaluated as to optimize its productivity, giving preference to its use to answer the basic need of food. The plan also will take up the issue of water resources, regarded to be an essential component of the land resources policy.

In the area of industry, Virata enumerated three major thrusts of the plan: efforts will be made to interlink the extractive sector with the manufacturing sector; more push will be given in forestry and the pulp and paper industry; and improvements in the industrial structure will have to be made to consider a marked drift toward protectionism in other countries.

Virata announced that as proven in the nickel project, the country is ready to produce metals from its own ore, thus, calling for more integration in the metal industry. He said that the next metals to be produced locally are copper, iron, and steel.

For the development in forestry and the pulp and paper industry, the plan will move for the continuation of government support to PICOP, through lower energy cost and use of fast-growing tree species. It will also call for the setting up of plantation projects for rubber, palm oil, etc., to beef up the country’s export potential.

Noting a drift toward protectionism in other countries and an increasingly felt need for greater interdependence among firms, Virata said that some changes in the industrial sector may have to be effected.

Community Infrasctructure

For the distribution of the benefits of development, the plan hopes to continue building more community infrastructure and push the KKK project, which is designed to rekindle the spirit of entrepreneurship as widely as possible.

Farm-to-market roads, clean water supply, and electrification occupy the top infrastructure projects to be carried out by the plan. The projects are thought to form the basis for an agro-industrial development of rural communities and a positive step to make the KKK blossom.

For the KKK, various programs have been designed to upgrade people’s skills. Financial schemes have been planned and made available in several retailing financial institutions to promote small- and medium-scale projects. In this, Virata asked for the active cooperation of the businessmen.

In the area of social development, Virata said the plan will seek the improvement of elementary and science education and of health services. A number of programs have been made to upgrade elementary and science education. Teaching materials have been updated, teachers’ retraining to consider changes in present needs has been established, vocational and technical curricula have been improved. Support to the Philippine Science High School and other science-oriented schools will continue. Teaching of Japanese and German languages will be encouraged to keep Filipino students abreast with the leaders of scientific development.

The plan will also beef up its preventive medicine orientation rather than the curative. Virata observed that the Philippines is showing signs of a high-stress society, as evidenced in the pattern of present illnesses and causes of death. He said that the Philippines is in a good position to assume the preventive medicine orientation.