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Davao E-Power Mo Speech of Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi
3 October 2017, Davao City
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To our energy partners and stakeholders— investors, fellow public servants, energy consumers—maayong buntag sa atong tanan!
 
Today we witness a paradigm shift in the approach to energy development and energy utilization.
 
The "E-Power Mo” is the Department of Energy’s campaign to empower and educate consumers of their options for a wiser and more intelligent utilization of energy resources.
 
To better explain energy to the consumers, we have developed energy tag lines to simplify the programs for the Filipino consumer.
 
To enable ourselves to globally compete and to create wealth for the Filipino, we need to develop indigenous energy resources to support our economic activities. Hence, we coined the over-arching term: E-POWER MO!
 
To utilize energy, safety and efficient practices are essential. Safety will prevent accidents and efficiency will result in more savings. Hence, we have: E-SAFETY MO!
 
To ensure quality, reliable, resilient and affordable supply of energy services, the energy family needs to secure the planning, development and operations aspects in the energy sector in close coordination with the consumers. Hence, we have: E-SECURE MO!
 
And lastly, to enhance the consumers' power of choice that ranges from the conventional sources to the renewable and other emerging technologies and systems we have: E-DISKARTE MO!
Under the Duterte Administration, real changes will be implemented to heed to the call for government to accelerate poverty reduction, speed up infrastructure projects, create more employment opportunities and improve government services in order to ensure that economic growth is actually felt by all Filipinos.
 
That is why this government is working on a vision to transform our country to an upper middle-income economy by 2022. 
 
We call this as the “golden age of infrastructure”. This is Dutertenomics.
 
To realize this goal to increase our capability to compete in the global economy, the National Economic Development Authority or NEDA launched the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 to serve as the blueprint of the country’s economic growth and to help achieve “Ambisyon 2040”.
 
In line with this, the DOE is working on several initiatives to ensure affordable, reliable, modern and sustainable energy. 
 
We will pursue fuel- and technology-neutrality, balancing environmental concerns and socio-economic growth through a competitive selection process to ensure reasonably priced energy. 
 
This will be coupled with the three-pronged approach driven by three I's -Incentives, Investments and Innovation. 
 
Under the three I's approach, government would provide the necessary support for players who want to invest in new technologies that not only increase reliability, but also reduce emissions. 
 
We have on hand the Philippine Energy Plan 2017-2040 and its comprehensive sectoral roadmaps to guide us in our long-term planning on energy.  These provide relevant information that would guide energy investors in formulating business plans and strategies.
 
We have good news for energy investors. As part of the government's support for the energy sector, President Duterte recently signed Executive Order No. 30 “Creating the Energy Investment Coordinating Council (EICC) to Streamline Regulatory Procedures Affecting Energy Projects”.             
 
This Council, led by the DOE, will coordinate the efforts of various agencies to fast-track the implementation of major energy projects.
 
These projects will be endorsed by the DOE as “Energy Projects of National Significance” if they are in accordance with the Philippine Energy Plan. 
 
The EO instructs government agencies to act on applications of energy projects within 30 days upon the complete submission of requirements. 
 
Another significant provision of the EO is the Presumption of Prior Approvals that gives the processing agency the power to act on the project application with the presumption that relevant permits from other concerned government agencies have already been issued.
 
With the EO in place, we can expect faster delivery of basic energy services, while encouraging additional investments in the economy that would lead to increased employment opportunities for Filipinos. 
 
In addition, the DOE in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Board is finalizing the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). 
 
The RPS is a policy mechanism under the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 that requires electric power industry participants, particularly the distribution utilities, to source or produce a specified fraction of their power supply from eligible renewable energy resources. 
 
We are also pursuing the implementation of Green Energy Option which gives the end-users the option to source their energy requirements from either through your respective distribution utility, or directly with ERC-licensed Retail Electricity Suppliers for contestable customers, and through purchase of RE Certificates from the Renewable Energy Market (REM) or its equivalent until the REM is operational.
 
We are also glad to share with you that the first Filipino-owned solar panel facility in Batangas was recently inaugurated.  This indicates the government's direction in developing the local renewable energy (RE) industry for the benefit of consumers and the economy.
 
The Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to natural calamities. We experience an average of 20 typhoons per year, flash floods, storm surges, earthquakes and landslides. 
 
With this reality, DOE is constantly assessing the negative impact of these disasters on the country’s energy systems to provide the necessary tools and technologies to enhance our resiliency planning and implementation.
 
In this respect, we encourage the installation of rooftop solar PV system in households to ensure the continuous supply of electricity in areas often hit by calamities.
 
The DOE is currently pushing another policy initiative to develop a disaster-resilient Philippines.
 
This is called “Adoption of Resiliency Planning and Program in the Energy Industry to Mitigate Adverse Effects Brought About by Disasters”.
 
Major principles considered under this policy include the strengthening of existing infrastructures, implementation of the “build-back better” principle in reconstruction and rehabilitation of infrastructures, improvement of operational, maintenance standards and practices, as well as resiliency standards for new energy facilities.

Specifically, the policy will institutionalize the Energy Sector Resiliency Compliance Program, which provides engineering and non-engineering measures to ensure infrastructure and human resource disaster preparedness.
 
The DOE will also conduct a series of public consultations nationwide to finalize and put this policy into action.
 
We will pursue the implementation of the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program to encourage the entry of more investors in the upstream petroleum and coal areas.
 
The program aims to fast-track the exploration process by encouraging local and foreign companies to submit proposals which will undergo a competitive selection process.
 
These are DOE’s major initiatives which I would like to highlight.  These are aligned to the ASEAN Member States' vision to pursue a “One ASEAN Community Through Resilient and Sustainable Energy.”  We had a thorough discussion with my ASEAN counterparts last week during the 35th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting and Associated Meetings (AMEM35) which we hosted in Manila.
 
In a nutshell, let me mention that we have threshed out the seven agenda of the ASEAN: (1) Clean Coal Technology; (2) Civilian Nuclear Energy focusing on its safe and efficient development; (3) Regional Energy Policy and Planning; (4) Renewable Energy; (5) Energy Efficiency and Conservation; (6) Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline (TAGP) and (7) ASEAN Power Grid, all of which are geared towards ensuring regional energy security, sustainability and resiliency.
 
We have a gigantic task ahead of us to make the Philippines globally competitive which also requires substantial infusion of investments.   
 
We urge our partners in the private sector to actively participate in our country’s energy development to fuel the dreams and aspiration of our next generation.
 
At this point, I would like to acknowledge the continued support of our partners from the Presidential Communications Operations Office, Philippine Information Agency, USAID B-LEADERS and the organizers of this event led by Undersecretary Wimpy Fuentebella and his team.
 
Thank you also to our resource persons and the participants from the national and local government, private sector partners, banking sector, financing institutions, academe and consumers who joined us today.
 
Daghang salamat and E-Power Mo!

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