MANILA, Philippines -- The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading the renewable energy bill.

The bill seeks to encourage local entrepreneurs to go into the development of the country's vast alternative energy resources through fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, and help decrease dependence on imported fuel.

Senator Edgardo Angara, principal author of the bill, said the proposed measure would foster sustainable growth, energy independence and economic security for the country.

"RE [renewable energy] use can save the country valuable foreign exchange of as much as $3.6 billion or almost P200 billion in fuel purchases," Angara said in a statement on Monday.

"Every 600 million kilowatt hour of RE generation saves one million barrels of oil. The Philippines could avoid having to buy more than 100 million barrels of oil by developing 2,500 megawatts of RE-based [energy] by 2014," he said.

The international environmental organization Greenpeace welcomed the Senate’s approval of the proposed measure and said both chambers of Congress “must now come together to convene the bicameral [conference] committee and quickly flesh out the details that would ensure that strong policy mechanisms are in place so that this legislation makes a difference in genuinely promoting the massive utilization of renewable energy.”

"The next challenge for our lawmakers, beyond the renewable energy legislation, is to implement strict energy efficiency policies and begin the process of phasing out harmful coal-fired power plants,” Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Jasper Inventor said in a statement.