PNOC-AFC chair lauds people of Basey in Samar for initiating jathropa farming

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
March 9, 2008

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corporation (PNOC-AFC) Chairman, Dr. Renato Velasco commended the people of Basey, Samar for coming together to form Baktas Kabub’wason Association, the main activity of which is planting of jathropa trees in support of President Arroyo’s Alternative Fuels Program.

Chairman Velasco said that the group (jathropa) in Basey is one of the most organized in the Visayas. Most of the 51 barangays of the municipality have jathropa planters already. The association has a management group which is headed by Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce who is the commanding officer of the 62nd Infantry Battalion based in Basey, Samar.

The group is being supported by the local government unit, the military and several government agencies, Chairman Velasco said. The local government has pledge to plant jathropa in at least 5,000 hectares of land in the municipality.

Chairman Velasco disclosed that the local government unit and the PNOC-AFC could forge a memorandum of agreement whereby partnerships and assistance will be given the jathropa group on a long term basis of 15 years.

If the group is able to plant 5,000 hectares of jathropa and there is assurance of sustainability of supply, then the PNOC-AFC can set up a buying center in the municipality.

Chairman Velasco assured the planters that the PNOC-AFC will buy all the seeds they will harvest. He cautioned them though to be careful with the choice of variety of jathropa to plant because there are varieties which give higher yield of oil.

Starting with 12 barangays when the project was officially launched in June of 2007, Chairman Velasco lauded that almost all the 51 barangays are already planting, six months after the launching.

Chairman Velasco was in Basey on March 8, as the Guest in the first General Assembly and Jathropa Seminar of the Baktas Kabub’wason Association.