Embracing the absolute necessity for our country to undertake an immediate and comprehensive program conservation and energy independence is a winning strategy for America…

That’s James Carville and Paul Begala, former US President Bill Clinton’s political campaigner and strategist, respectively, writing in Taking it Back in 2006.

Their words still ring true up to now and applies not only to the US but to this country as well.

Carville and Begala made a strong pitch for former US Vice President Al Gore’s “Green/Green Solution” – as in environmentally friendly and money as in greenbacks.

Indeed, there’s money to be made and saved from embracing alternative, clean, and renewable energy.

Luckily, we have a discerning lawmaker who is embracing the cause and wants the rest of us to make the big switch.  

Sen. Ralph G. Recto said one concrete solution to unbridled oil price increases is for government to gear up its promotion of alternative fuel vehicles in public transport.

“We won’t be having frequent transport strikes if only drivers and operators are earning enough with less cash going to their fuel tanks,” Recto said, refering to the transport strike mounted by public utility drivers and operators last Monday, which stranded thousands of commuters.

“One clear solution is to promote the use of alternative fuel vehicles for public transport,” he added.

Recto said bills filed proposing such grand shift to a more sustainable and environment-friendly mode of transport should be declared as priority legislation by Malacañang.

He pointed out that with the public transport sector shifting to AFV units, “more money will go to the pockets of drivers and operators in terms of savings from fuel while there will be lower pollution costs and lower import bill for petroleum products”.

The chairman of Senate ways and means committee noted that the country imports an average of 300,000 barrels of crude oil daily while government spends around P880,000 to treat pollution related-diseases with one Filipino practically dying from dirty air every hour.

“Our national oil addiction should end with the mushrooming of AFVs,” the lawmaker said.

Recto said the government could also jumpstart the AFV revolution by helping transport sector secure cheap and long-term financing from multilateral agencies to fund the conversion of their vehicles to AFV or e-vehicles.

Earlier he said the alternative is to shift to electric energy and other alternative fuel to rev up the engines of transport vehicles to finally end the country’s overdependence on expensive oil.

“Other countries like Israel and China are already declaring freedom from petroleum dependence in the next three or four decades, we want to start the ball rolling by paving the way for a legislation that would fast track our shift to AFVs,” the former socio-economic planning secretary said.

He said his committee would  report this next week to the plenary a consolidated measure that would roll out tax incentives to people or groups which would import, convert, manufacture or assemble the pioneering fleet of electric vehicles in the country, including hybrid and other motor vehicles using alternative fuel.

Electric Vehicle refers to any vehicle that uses electric motors; hybrid vehicle refers to any vehicle that combines the technologies of using internal combustion engine with a battery-powered electric motor while other alternative fuel vehicle is one using non-traditional sources of energy such as but not limited to: solar, wind, hydrogen fuel cell, compressed natural gas or liquefied natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas, other than conventional sources of energy like petroleum and gasoline for propulsion.