Better Philippines

Pinoybuzz: UP Jeepney Operator goes for Bio-Diesel made from used cooking oil

When Typhoon Ondoy submerged most of Metro Manila and so called citizen journalists started thumping their chests while shouting “Where I am from, everybody is a hero!” as they distributed relief goods, some of the people who were warning every one about climate change probably shook their heads.

The message they were spreading, apparently, hadn’t sunk in.

Global warming, climate change, and all the green jargon floating around in cyberspace apparently had flown above the heads of most people and continues to fly unimpeded.

Sure, there are are early adopters who will swear that they’ve made headway in getting their communities to adapt to climate change. But the dozens, hundreds, or few thousands who adopt climate change adaptation measures in the Philippines are probably still not enough to make a significant impact on the level of green house gases and other emissions that continue to drive our planet’s temperature higher.

Right now, climate change adaptation is one of those cool phrases that gets mouthed by some celebrity green advocate.  But what we really need to see is the ordinary Filipino man or woman living the climate change adaptation philosophy.

Within the small group of mountaineers and grassroots green advocates that comprises the Alliance for a Cleaner Earth (ACE), the guiding idea behind some of the projects we support are those that get Filipino communities engaged in practices that will help cut down green house gas emissions while providing them with a steady source of income.

One project that we are supporting is a massive cooking-oil-to-bio-diesel conversion project that has recently just been started up with the help of a UP Diliman Jeepney operator.

Ricky Cuenca, a good friend and compatriot, shares a welcome development in helping ordinary Filipinos to produce their own fuel from the used cooking oil they normally thrown down drains and gutters.

When we started the biodiesel project 17 mos ago, so many roadblocks had to be hurdled. It is now bearing fruit.

The Jollibee group will supply as much used cooking oil as we can pick up from all their corporate stores in the Philippines to start the project for their contribution to the lessening of the Air Pollution problems, environmental and health hazards at a fixed price per liter.

This allows us to compete with the Big 3 and the present pump price of diesel. We plan to lower it a little more so that there is no question on affordability.

The benefits are huge. At 20% blend, we lower CO2 and sulfur emissions by 15 and 30% respectively. If we increase the blend to a higher percentage the more we can lessen these pollutants. There are so many other benefits using Biodiesel but the important thing is we now have a foothold of supply, an ever growing market of Public Transport Groups that consume 4 billion liters of diesel every year in the Philippines.

The UP Coop is just the beginning, we have lined up groups of Jeep and transport Coops in the thousands.

We just want to take our steps one at a time so we do not fall flat on our faces.

Phase 1 UP Jeep Coop – 200 jeeps, 1200-1500 liters a day of Biodiesel. Hope we can get up to full speed by Earth Day Apr 22.

The hope is that when we get up to speed by April 22, the project can now be showcased during the visit of Former Vice President Al Gore to the Philippines on April 30

We will need your help in spreading the word, blogging about it.

Here are a couple videos of the cooking-oil-to-bio-diesel project in UP Diliman.

Here’s a jeepney driver talking about the cooking oil bio-diesel he just loaded in this jeep.

Now, for the most part, Pinoy Buzz has been battling other bloggers over a number of political issues — mainly over the fact that Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar are poor choices for the Presidency.

Recently, I’ve decided to lay off the online war over who is the better candidate and focus on supporting measures that will really make an impact on all of our lives.

After all, we can’t argue over politics under the sea.

Gut Feel All Over Again

Now this is strange. A new survey by Pulse Asia shows that of all the presidential candidates Senator Manny Villar enjoys the trust of more Filipinos. It shows Senator Noynoy Aquino only at second place. Here’s an excerpt from an abs-cbnnews.com report.

The January 22-26 survey showed that 70% of Filipinos had much trust for Villar, compared to 64% for Aquino.  Eighteen percent of voters said they were undecided about Villar while 23% said the same for Aquino. Both candidates had the same percentage of voters  (12%)  saying that they had little trust for the two candidates.

Aquino and Villar were statistically tied in the last presidential survey conducted by Pulse Asia last January 22 -26. Thirty-seven percent of Filipino voters said they would vote for Aquino in the presidential election while 35% said they chose Villar.

I do not hide the fact that I’m not a fan of election surveys. I strongly believe they are manipulated in one way or the other. However, I’m making an exception with this survey because I like how it takes away from the Aquino camp’s apparent claim that their candidate is the only trustworthy candidate. I wonder how the yellow horde will react to this.

By the way, if I were a believer of SWS and Pulse Asia surveys I’d probably say this is a development for the simple reason that it shows that not all Filipinos are buying Noynoy’s honesty schtick.

But then again, I am an anti-election survey kind of guy so I’ll stick to my stand that this or any other election survey out there are not to be believed. More importantly, they should not in any way serve as a basis for how we should vote.

In the first place, how can anyone really tell that this or that candidate is trustworthy? Do Noynoyistas and Villaristas have intimate knowledge of the real character of their favored candidates? Are they possessed with extra-sensory powers they are able to see into the hearts and minds of these politicians both of whom refuse to articulate exactly how they will fulfill their respective campaign promises of ridding the government of corruption and putting an end to poverty.

The truth is the respondents of this Pulse Asia survey (if indeed they do exist) just followed their gut feel. Nanghula lang sila. In all likelihood they will do the same come May 10. Good luck with that.

“Platform” Is Not Just A Buzzword

We can now hear more people talking about platforms. Unfortunately, it’s quite obvious most people still can’t differentiate between a real platform and the usual motherhood statement. When a candidate says he plans to fight corruption or implement reforms on education many would simply accept it as a platform statement. The fact is our candidates are merely mouthing off platitudes.

What’s really troubling is that a number of supposedly enlightened personalities are also guilty of the same stupidity. Perhaps, they’re [...] Continue Reading…

Hypocrites and Jokers

Just saw a TV news report on how much was spent by political candidates in the last election. Seeing the figures, most of which were close to the 100 million peso mark, made my head spin. I couldn’t help but think how such a big waste elections are especially here in the Philippines.

A lot more people could have benefited had those candidates simply pooled their funds together and launched some kind of socio-civic project. They could have built classrooms, [...] Continue Reading…

Survey Drop Due To Unholy Alliance?

Misplaced pride is clearly Senator Noynoy Aquino’s sin. A few glaring things bear this out. First of all, just like former President Joseph Estrada, he can’t admit to himself that he doesn’t have what it takes to lead a Third World country in dire need of progress. An underachiever in Congress, Aquino hardly qualifies as the person fit to lead millions of people to a better life.

But that is not the most damning evidence of Noynoy’s misplaced pride. With [...] Continue Reading…

Yes, Please Resign

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago continues to be a wellspring of quotable quotes. Yesterday she dished out yet another one that I find really interesting. She said:
“Eh kasi nakakainis eh… Eh…insultuhan ng insultuhan tungkol sa bagay pampulitika at kokonti na lang panahon namin…”

“Lahat na kami mag-resign kung ganyan rin lang palang mag-away away kami at wala naman na kaming silbi sa taongbayan… eh bakit pa kami mag-di-display ng aming bad manners and bad conduct.”

(Roughly translated)

“It’s frustrating. All we do is [...] Continue Reading…

Excessive Fees Bad For Business

The beginning of the year signals the start of the business renewal season. At the various city and municipal halls, business owners are now scrambling to beat the deadline to avoid penalties.

The process for the renewal of business permits is as follows:
1. Compilation of business and other documents (old mayor’s permit, declaration of sales, tax documents, official receipts of payments etc.)

2. Presentation of documents for evaluation and assessment

3. Payment of official fees (city tax, garbage fee, sanitary fee etc.)

4. [...] Continue Reading…

Adding More Substance To Political Ads

I have a theory. The election campaigns of our presidential candidates are all run by one and the same group of people.

I say this because political advertisements being aired and published now are all basically saying the same things. There’s really not much difference among them. In my observation, here are some of the most glaring similarities insofar as TV ads are concerned:
1. the ads communicate the message that their candidate is a saviour of some sort
2. visual elements [...] Continue Reading…

A Commenter’s Appeal To All Voters

I got a rather long but very helpful comment from a certain “Sony.” I’ve decided to give it it’s own space. Here it is.

Submitted on 2010/01/15 at 7:47pm
Dear Friends,

Election time is here again. Many of you will shrug this off as another of those futile exercise that we as a dysfunctional nation go through.

Let me tell you, THIS TIME IT IS DIFFERENT. IF we make it so. Why?

1. This is the FIRST TIME THAT IT IS AUTOMATED: COMPLETE WITH [...] Continue Reading…

Hindi Ako Mag-Nanakaw, Pramis

I have just seen the latest TV ad of Senator Noynoy Aquino and I must say it’s a good one. Here it is from YouTube.

And for those who want to really savor the lines, here they are lovingly transcribed by yours truly.
Minamahal kong kababayan,

Tadhana ang nagbuklod sa atin dahil naghihingalo na ang ating bayan, Nais kong pumasok sa isang kasunduan sa inyo. Lalaban tayo para sa wastong edukasyon ng bawat batang Pilipino. Lalaban tayo para sa abot-kayang serbisyong pangkalusugan. [...] Continue Reading…