ENERCON manifesto
Media
Part of The Republic
- Title
- ENERCON manifesto
- Language
- English
- Source
- The Republic I (6) 1-31 December 1975
- Year
- 1975
- Subject
- Energy conservation -- Philippines
- Energy Conservation (ENERCON) Movement
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- 1-31 December 1975 5 Asiong Aksaya. Matakawsailaw. Gov’t offices get moving on conservation programs ENERCON manifesto HERE are some examples of how var ious government offices are in volved in the campaign to conserve en ergy. The Department of Industries, for instance, is conducting a nationwide en ergy audit among private industries which consume at least Pl million worth of fuel and electricity a year. The Energy Conservation Council of the Philippine National Oil Company is designated to collate these energy audit reports from the private industries. The scope of the audit goes back as far as nine months ago. Private oil companies are being used by the Energy Conservation Council to get accurate data on petroleum products and power consumption of private industries. , The Department of Industries has set a deadline of January 15, 1976, for submission of completed energy audit forms. In addition to the energy audit, the DOI is also requiring all private indus tries to submit monthly statistical energy consumption reports beginning from next month. The DOI has directed the private oil companies to gather these monthly reports from their client indus tries. The aim is to enable the govern ment to monitor the energy requirements of the country and to assist the govern ment to institute any appropriate meas ures. On the other hand, the Philippine National Oil Company has embarked on the development of coal as an alterna tive source of fuel for the mining and cement industries. According to the PNOC, the private industrial sector consumes 32 percent of the country’s total oil consumption. Of this 32 percent, the mining industry accounts for five percent and the cement industry for 4.8 percent. If all the ce ment and mining industries in the coun try converted their power sources to coal, the government could save at least $84 million annually. An attempt to instill the value of conservation among students and youth has been initiated by the Department of Education and Culture. The DEC was directed, through LOI 329, together with the Department of Local Government and Community Development and the Department of Public Information, to conduct an edu Asiong Aksaya. Waldas sa gas. cational campaign on fuel conservation. As defined by the DEC, resources conservation involves the most econom ical use of all materials such as paper, lumber, tin and other metal, cloth, water, and energy. To propagate this concept of re sources conservation, the DEC intends to hold nationwide seminars of teachers in all levels. In DEC Memorandum 190, Educa tion Secretary Juan Manuel directed all schools to conduct seminars on re sources conservation and to integrate this subject in such disciplines as Sci ence, Social Studies, and practical arts. All heads of schools and officials have been charged with the responsibility of conducting the seminars. In addition, vocational and tech nical schools were directed to include in their curricula courses in the conserva tion and efficient utilization of fuels, electricity, power and other sources of energy. Another aspect is the information and educational campaign being coor dinated by the Department of Public Information. All conscious efforts to conserve fuel—such as people seeing bus and jeepney operators holding down on un necessary trips, owners and managers of big industrial establishments exhort ing their employees to use energy judi ciously, and governors and mayors con ducting seminars on how to conserve energy—are information in themselves. But these are being complemented by a DPI information program on energy conservation. This information campaign of the Department of Public Information is di rected to newspaper readers and radio TV listeners rather than to the big en ergy users. The rationale is: “Any rise in oil prices affects mainly the consumer. It is he who feels the brunt of higher oil prices. The DPI’s energy conservation information effort, therefore, is direct ed at him, not at the big users who can be made to comply with state regula-. tions without accompanying publicity gimmicks or information programs. We are telling the citizens to save gas to minimize the impact of higher oil prices. If, in the end, the oil crunch does not THE energy crisis is real. It is world wide. It is here. The Philippines is totally dependent on foreign sources of crude oil. Until we strike oil, we will continue to im port our increasing requirements. As a developing country, we need crude oil to fuel our economic develop ment; but our energy requirements are so huge and the price of oil is so high that the value of our peso can further deteriorate. This will mean higher pro duction costs for industry. This will mean higher prices of basic consumer goods and services. The price of crude oil has been drastically increased by the oil export ing countries. We cannot afford to continue our ever increasing pattern of oil consump tion. We cannot afford to pay the in creased cost of our oil requirements. We realize, however, that we cannot do much about the increased prices of crude oil. But we can and we must do some thing about wasteful energy consump tion. Unless we begin to conserve energy now, we may have to face such disrup tions and inconveniences as brownouts and rationing. We have heard the call of President Marcos for a national energy conservacorfie, then the public will credit the favorable result to the efforts of govern ment which had warned them of dire consequences. If it comes, however, the people will realize they have been properly informed.” The task of keeping the citizen continuously aware of the need to con serve fuel is not easy. However, by com bining orthodox and unorthodox com munication approaches one may per haps be effective. For this purpose, the DPI has po pularized the cartoon character “Asiong Aksaya”, a despicable slob who goes about his wasteful way. “Asiong Ak saya” was designed to highlight tidbits on how or how not to conserve energy. This is complemented by straightforward information through features, news, and editorials—with the assistance of the private print and broadcast media. Information machinery for energy conservation, involving the private me dia, has been set up by the DPI. Editors of the major dailies, as well as members of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, were formed into a Media Committee for Print and a Media Com mittee for Broadcast. Through these two media committees, information and how-to tips on oil conservation are be ing disseminated. Additionally, there has been the or ganization of “Energy Conservation Of ficers’1 in the private and government sectors. These “Enercon Officers” in each organization are responsible for seeing that the government’s energy con servation measures are complied with down to grassroots level. □ tion effort. To lead the effort, the Presi dent has mobilized the government ma chinery towards energy conservation. But government efforts must be complemented by the private sector. The success of a national energy con servation program depends on the sup port of the private sector. It is for this reason that we are now launching the Energy Conservation (Enercon) Movement. The Enercon Movement is a manifestation of a na tional determination to do something about the energy crisis. The Enercon Movement will bring together all sectors of the community in a concerted effort to conserve energy. Working together in the Enercon Movement, we pledge to dedicate our selves to generate greater awareness among our people, of the need to con serve energy. We will promote discipline in our people’s energy consumption habits. We will bring the message of Energy Conservation to every home and citizen. We call upon our people to join us in a unified effort to conserve en ergy. Let us work together to save our country from the energy crisis. Save Energy. Save Yourself. □ Private sector gets involved IN RESPONSE to the President’s call, private sector leaders from civic, in dustry, transport, arid'oonsumer groupT organized on November 26 1975, the Energy Conservation Movement. Its ob jectives are: 1. To generate public awareness of the urgent need for energy conservation and efficient fuel utilization. 2. To promote sustained involve ment in the project by energy users. 3. To establish energy conserva tion guidelines and standards. 4. To encourage energy conserva tion through a system of incentives and sanctions. The Steering Committee is com posed of Mr. Abello, Chairman; Dr. Ma nuel Lim and Mr. Petronilo Guevara, Vice-Chairmen, with Messrs. Cesar Bue naventura, Fred J. Elizalde, Manuel Ar royo, and Atty. Rogelio Quiambao as Members. SERVING as the secretariat coordina ting and monitoring body of the Movement is the PNOC Energy Council (ENERCON). Headed by Petrophil VicePresident, Pablo V. Malixi, ENERCON also performs th6 following: 1. Develops energy conservation guidelines and standards. 2. Develops and evaluates energy conservation programs. 3. Conducts energy audit and es tablishes monitoring system. 4. Provides technical assistance to industries through technical pools, in cooperation with government/private power companies, oil industry and relat ed sectors. 5. Undertakes public information program, in cooperation with the De partment of Public Information, Na tional Media Production Center, Depart ment of Education and Culture, and the Department of Local Government. 6. Liaisons with civic, trade, pro fessional, and consumer groups. 7. Reviews industries’ capital/expense budget towards providing incen tives and assistance concerning energy equipment. ENERCON may be contacted at the Petrophil Building,7901 Makati Ave nue, Makati, Rizal, Tel. No. 88-03-31. □
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