The entire Asean region is looking at the Philippines as a "test case" in the implementation of biofuels policy.

The country is being placed in that critical transition phase that it cannot afford to fail or backtrack on its biofuels program, so its counterpart neighbor countries would have a reference on how to thrive in pursuing alternative fuels for the transport sector.

At the recently concluded Bioenergy Forum 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, all eyes have been set on the Philippines on how its introduction of coco methyl ester (CME) as initial blend to diesel and ethanol as blend to gasoline would eventually fare.

The roughly 100 delegates from United Kingdom, Austria, New Zealand, France, United States, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have in fact regarded the Philippines as "brave soul" in embracing the biofuels program.

Much like the pioneering initiative of Brazil on ethanol, the Philippines has grand ambitions of positioning itself as a "model case" in the biofuels program.

"While other Asian countries have been unclear with their policies on how to promote their national biofuels policy, the Philippines has been the model for its decisive mandate on the use of cocobiodiesel and fuel-ethanol, through Republic Act 9367, also known as the Biofuels Act of 2006," Filipino delegates at the conference have sounded off.

But that is not to say that the policy is having smooth-sailing implementation, because as the higher blend of biodiesel and the kick-off of ethanol blend approaches, some lawmakers are already calling for the Biofuels Law’s shelving.

While acknowledging the problems of the program, such as the recurring "food versus fuel" debate, concerned stakeholders are just appealing that the government must keenly review on how to remedy the current dilemmas of the program.

When the law was still being deliberated, the government promised key incentives for investments to flow, but not much has been done so far to ensure the viablitity of capitals that will be poured in.

To ease the growing tension on biofuel feedstocks competing with the food chain, industry players noted that the government must support initiatives to scour for options, such as the development of jatropha as a feedstock for biodiesel or follow the experiment of more advanced countries on cellulosic ethanol.

In the case of CME, biodiesel producers opined that coconut, being its feedstock, should not be thrown into the food crisis debate, because it already been there even before these problems manifested.

"The feedstock was derived without the need to clear new land for the planting of additional trees," CME producers said.