BACOLOD CITY — Business leaders in Negros Occidental on Tuesday called for more government support for the country’s young ethanol industry, stressing that green fuel would be the country’s way out of “a hostage economy.”

The country was being held hostage because 95 percent of fuel that its transport system uses is imported, said Roberto Montelibano, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) president.

Montelibano said 80 percent of the country’s oil products come from the troubled Middle East, with 20 percent coming from Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia, and purchased with dollars that have given the Philippines a negative trade balance for the past 50 years.

Greg Lopez, executive vice president of Biofuels Int’l Phils. Inc. and MBCCI director for agriculture development, said on Tuesday the country could reduce dependence on imported fuel by producing renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

A survey by the Department of Agriculture and Department of Environment and Natural Resources identified 700,000 hectares of land in the country as suitable for ethanol.

On a low yield of 4,000 liters per hectare, these areas are capable of producing 2,800 million liters, which is more than half of the Department of Energy’s projected gasoline requirement for 2013-2014, Lopez said.

Montelibano urged the government to show its commitment to environmentally friendly energy.

“(The) government should walk the talk on its push for green energy by providing adequate support to ensure its survival,” he said.

The country currently has only one sugarcane-based ethanol plant in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental. At least 17 more ethanol plants are needed by 2011.

The government has to raise tariff on imported ethanol or alcohol from 1 percent to 30 percent to make the local industry viable and attract investors, he said.