MANILA, Philippines -- The author of the Biofuels Act of 2007 in the Senate Monday sought more governmental oversight powers over biofuel development, saying that biofuels could adversely affect the country?s ability to produce its own food.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she fully agreed with the statement of the 1998 Nobel laureate for chemistry, Dr. Hartmut Michel, that biofuel development would be counterproductive because it would produce little energy compared with other renewable energy sources like wind power.

?Biofuel is land-based and will eventually compete with food. Because the Philippines has a small land area, biofuel production will tend to encroach on food production. Corporations are already searching for millions of hectares for jatropha alone. We have to step on the brakes and decelerate,? she said in a statement.

In the House of Representatives, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez is asking the House to open an inquiry into the impact of the biofuel program on food security and global warming.

?There seems to be a mad rush to develop biofuels. A lot of resources are being committed, including millions of hectares of land and billions of pesos, on something that is now being debated,? Golez said in a phone interview.

Some farmers in Mindanao have converted part of their rice land to jatropha farming, lured by the promise of higher incomes from the shrub, known locally as tuba-tuba, that produces oily seeds.

Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) Alternative Fuels Corp. is looking at some 1.2-million hectares as its main hub for jatropha production in Mindanao.

Land Bank of the Philippines has signed an agreement to provide PNOC Alternative Fuels Corp. with P5 billion to finance the jatropha development program.

Local governments, including Negros Occidental and Quezon, have offered large tracts of land for jatropha production, as foreign investors have expressed interest in such ventures.

Biofuels include bioethanol, biodiesel and fuel from biomass. Bioethanol is a light alcohol produced by fermenting starch or sugar from sugarcane, corn, cassava or nipa. Biodiesel is fuel extracted from plant oils like jatropha, palm, soy, rapeseed and coconut.

Over-hyped Biofuels Act

?Some politicians have over-hyped the Biofuels Act to burnish their image, thus misleading the public. The Biofuels Act raises a serious debate on food versus biofuels in a small island country like ours,? Santiago said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law in January last year the Biofuels Act, or Republic Act No. 9367, which mandates the use of biofuels in the country.

The law requires that a minimum of 1-percent biodiesel blend be sold within three months of its effectivity and at least 2 percent within two years.

Land for jatropha

The government is implementing an alternative fuel program to reduce the country?s dependence on imported oil, and provide cheaper, more environment-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels.

To meet the 2-percent blend for biodiesel, some 97,022 hectares planted to jatropha are required in 2009 and 120,808 in 2015, according to PNOC Alternative Fuels Corp.

At the 5-percent blend, the jatropha area is estimated at 242,556 hectares in 2009 and 302,021 ha in 2015. At the 20-percent blend, the area goes up to 970,224 ha in 2009 and 1.208 million ha in 2015.

Carbon dioxide emission

Michel pointed out that producing biofuel would sometimes entail clearing a forest, a process that destroys biodiversity and emits more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

?When you burn the forest, you produce too much carbon dioxide, which you can?t save in the next several hundred years,? he said at the Nobel Forum on Wednesday at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, where he and three other Nobel awardees were the guests.

He said putting money in biofuel development would be counterproductive.

?When you calculate how much of the sun?s energy is stored in the plants, it?s below one percent,? Michel said.

?When you convert into biofuel, you add fertilizer and then harvest the plants. There?s not real energy gained in biofuel,? he added.

Renewable energy bill

Santiago said the Biofuels Act was only a cushion for the global increase in oil prices. ?It is only meant to be a run-up to the Renewable Energy Bill, which I will sponsor in the Senate (plenary) when session opens at the end of the month,? she said.

Although she authored and sponsored the law that requires the use of biofuel blend in diesel and gasoline, Santiago said she preferred that the government and private sector put their resources on harnessing renewable energy from wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass sources.

Santiago said she fully supported Michel?s suggestion for the government to invest in wind energy development rather than in biofuel development.

She recalled that during Ms Arroyo?s state visit to Spain, Spanish businessmen were very much interested in helping develop wind power in the Philippines.

In the meantime, while the renewable energy bill is pending, Santiago said she would ask the Senate and House leadership to provide funds for the newly created congressional biofuels oversight committee to make sure that ?food acreage will not be prejudiced by biofuel acreage.?

Santiago, who also chairs the Senate energy committee, said the oversight committee was created to see to it that the law will achieve its aim to reduce the country?s dependence on imported oil, as well as ?prevent corporate greed and political opportunism from endangering food security.?

Speculators have begun to call for the conversion of rice farms into plantations for biodiesel sources such as sugarcane, corn, cassava, nipa, jatropha, palm, soy, rapeseed and coconut, according to the senator.

In the House, Golez, the senior deputy minority leader, renewed his proposal to the committees on ecology, energy and agriculture to review the impact of the biofuel program in view of questions on its efficiency.

In particular, its impact on energy and food security, global warming, and carbon emissions should be assessed, he said.

Golez filed a resolution last month seeking such an inquiry.

He said that environmental and food security impact was ?potentially enormous? since at least 1 million hectares of land had been allocated for biofuels-related production.

Be more prudent

Because the country has only 30 million hectares of land, it?s expected that biofuel plantations would intrude into forested or planted areas, endangering the environment and biodiversity, according to Golez.

?We?re not saying that we should put a stop to this. We should be more prudent with biofuel production,? he said.

Golez pointed out that months after the Biofuels Law was enacted, scientists had released ?critical findings? on biofuel that necessitate an ?urgent review? of the biofuel policy whose impact ?may be irreversible if not corrected now.?

Chief of among these findings was that biofuels may contribute to the warming of the climate, he said.

The congressman said that a global warming expert, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, had noted that the advantages of reduced carbon dioxide emissions were ?more than offset? by increased nitrous oxide emissions during biofuel production.

The other finding was that biofuels are not carbon neutral because energy is required to grow crops and process them into fuel, according to Golez.

The lawmaker also said that another major finding was that biofuels may endanger food security.

Jean Ziegler, the UN special rapporteur on food, said that while the argument for biofuels in terms of energy efficiency was legitimate, the effects of transforming wheat and maize crops into biofuel were ?catastrophic? on the world?s hungry.

Golez noted that a September 2007 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on biofuels concluded that the ?rush to energy crops threatens to cause food shortages and damage to biodiversity with limited benefits.? Dona Pazzibugan and TJ Burgonio