Garduce, Team Everest join clamor for energy bill passage

Renowned mountaineer Romi Garduce and members of the first all-female Philippine Everest team lobbied with senators Monday for the immediate passage of the Renewable Energy (RE) Bill in Congress. The team, with the Renewable Energy Coalition, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines) and Greenpeace, conducted a 20-kilometer run from the MRT North Avenue Station in Quezon City to the Senate in Pasay City. "We are telling our Senators that the people are clamoring for an RE Bill, and the passage of such is confirmation of the Senators' sincere commitment to the environment, to the country, and to the people. The immediate passage of this bill is the Senate's vote for a better and safer world, and will be the first step towards ensuring energy security for our future generations," said Roslyn Arayata of the Renewable Energy Coalition. Mountaineers Noelle Wenceslao and Karina Dayondon, together with other Filipino athletes, celebrities and supporters of the RE Bill, led the run in time for the resumption of session in Congress. Greenpeace, in a statement on its website, said the groups handed to Senate representatives more than 350,000 petitions from around the country in support of the RE Bill. They also presented Senate representatives with a symbolic key and giant ballot box with the words "Boto ng Bayan para sa RE Bill." "This landmark legislation is urgent and extremely crucial to the future of our country and the planet. Renewable Energy is an opportunity. As the true cost of coal dependence becomes more and more evident, all other countries will jump onto the Renewable Energy bandwagon," said Lory Tan, CEO of WWF-Philippines. "But before any of this can happen, an enabling policy platform must be set in place. This is the Renewable Energy Bill, which will not only have a positive economic impact on the Philippines but will set the precedent for other ASEAN countries to follow our example. Our President should certify this landmark bill as urgently as possible," she added. The RE Bill has been on the drawing board for the past 10 years before the House of Representatives finally passed its version in September last year. With only three weeks of sessions remaining, the Senate has yet to pass its own version of the RE Bill that will be consolidated with the lower house version under the bicameral conference committee. "The RE bill is at the last stretch before the summit. The Senate has the opportunity to finally enact into law a bill that will make a difference in the lives of every Filipino, and even every creature on this planet. This is not the time to turn back and let that opportunity slip away. The Philippine Senate must now show its political will: it must prioritize the RE Bill and Congress must guarantee its passage into law before the end of the 13th Congress," said Jasper Inventor of Greenpeace. - GMANews.TV