INDEPENDENT oil player Flying V is looking at developing solar power in the Philippines via a joint venture with a company from China.

Chairman Ramon Villavicencio of Flying V said his company is currently in talks with Terra Solar Global Inc., a subsidiary of China Solar Energy, for a turnkey solar panel manufacturing project.

“Discussions have started for a joint venture project with Terra Solar. Solar panels will in the future be technically advanced and cheaper,” he said.

Villavicencio said Flying V has been pushing to expand its renewable energy initiatives as part of the company’s12th year anniversary.

“We have been known as a pioneer in alternative fuels. And this time, we want to do our part in developing renewable energy,” he said.

The joint venture with Terra Solar may include a solar panel manufacturing plant and possible exports of its products to foreign buyers.

Villavicencio did not disclose further details beyond saying a five-megawatt manufacturing plant would entail an investment of $15 million.

The cost of producing solar energy in China is $1 to $2 per watt.

Construction of the solar manufacturing facility, according to Villavicencio, would coincide with Flying V’s plan to promote new technology for the electric tricycle.

“Technology improvement and promotion of the electric tricycle now shall ignite the development and the commercial production of the Philippine version of the solar panel and electric auto vehicle envisioned by Flying V,” he said.

Flying V earlier said it is looking at putting up 100 service stations all over the country within the year to further expand its retail network and better serve its market.

“In the past 11 years, Flying V has already put up 175 stations,” said Villavicencio, adding that this year alone the company would build 100 more retail stations.

He said the company is aggressively expanding to match the possible expansion of its competitors.

Villavicencio further noted that 75 of the target 100 stations are already in the pipeline. The new stations would be small retail outlets that would likely entail an investment of P1 million to P2 million.

BONN, Germany—Business leaders from around the world have joined forces in calling on governments to take urgent and substantial action to tackle global warming, saying the current global economic crisis and the impact of climate change are the major challenges the world is facing.

The business sector said urgent crafting by governments of comprehensive, long-term and effective policy frameworks, in close consultation with the business community and civil society, must be designed to make markets work for the climate, according to reports distributed here in Bonn.  “We do possess realistic options for solutions,” said Bjorn Stigson, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), “Global business has the resources to deliver energy efficiencies, to innovate, to develop and deploy technology that can create a more resource-efficient economy.”

WBCSD is a CEO-led, global association of some 200 companies dealing exclusively with business and sustainable development.

To ensure future prosperity, countries need a high-growth and low-carbon world economy, Stigson said.

“Acting on climate change is more urgent than ever,” he added.

It is estimated that up to 20 million jobs worldwide can be created in renewable energy alone by 2030, twice the level of job creation that would be achieved with a fossil fuel-based energy.

Last month, businesses leaders met in Denmark to try to unite behind a call for long-term climate policies on oil, power and technology.

This year is particularly significant as negotiations on a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change intensify toward reaching a consensus in Copenhagen in December on a post-2012 framework to regulate green house gas emissions.

The second round of climate talks here in Bonn, attended by more than 180 nations, is set to start making more detailed proposals on an initial round of comments on a proposed draft for the climate change deal.

Chambers of commerce speak

Meanwhile, leaders of the international chambers of commerce community issued this week a statement at the World Chambers Congress held in Malaysia, identifying the current global economic crisis and the impacts of climate change as two major challenges that transcend national borders and require concerted international cooperation.

“Companies and chambers of commerce have a critical role to play in meeting these challenges together with governments. However, more effective ways of governing an interdependent world are needed,” the statement said.

It added that a future framework must facilitate the scaling-up of research and development of clean energy technologies through new financial mechanisms.

“Immediate deployment of cost-effective existing technologies should be encouraged. Innovative public-private partnerships that foster rapid development of advanced technologies to reduce emissions will also play a pivotal role,” the statement continued.

Kimball Chen, chairman of the energy transportation group in the United States, stressed that the business sector also needs to learn about the issues surrounding global warming.

“There will be economic consequences of climate change. You must plan for them and you must act. Action is imperative, it is not a choice,” Chen warned.

International Chamber of Commerce secretary-general Guy Sebban said sustainable development depends on economic growth and recovery.

“The global economic crisis has underscored the urgency of sustainable development, emphasizing a mutually reinforcing balance of economic, social and environmental progress,” Sebban said.

PRESIDENT Arroyo has abolished the controversial Interagency Legal Affairs Group (IALAG) that has been criticized by militant and cause-oriented groups for allegedly harassing their members with “fabricated” criminal charges.

The President signed the revoking Executive Order (EO) 808 on May 15. IALAG was formed in 2007. “IALAG has already accomplished its mandate,” EO 808 stated.

The President created IALAG principally to “coordinate all national security cases” such as rebellion, sedition and related offenses, and “national interest cases that threaten national security.”

It was tasked “to provide effective and efficient handling and coordination of the investigative and prosecutorial aspects of the fight against threats to national security.”

But militant and human-rights groups have been calling for the abolition of IALAG since it was put up because their experience with it, according to them, shows the group to be a government tool to persecute members of left-leaning legal organizations with trumped-up charges and allegations they are members of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

EO 808 also banned Executive officials and employees from using EO 493 “in the investigation, prosecution, and monitoring of offenses relating to national security.”

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, chairman of the Presidential Human Rights Committee, noted the cancellation of the group was among the recommendations of Prof. Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Alston had reiterated his recommendation to abolish IALAG in a follow-up report to the United Nations Human Rights Council on April 29.

Ermita said the President made the decision to show government resolve to improve its human-rights record. “This will show that we are responsive to his recommendations because he thinks that this IALAG is an instrument for violation of human rights of insurgents as well as those identified with the insurgents like the militant groups, which is not necesssarily true. To remove such question, the President decided, ‘Okay, let’s just abolish IALAG’.”

He said the President reached the decision after she listened to the report—which apparently supported abolition—of the Anti-Terrorism Council at the meeting of the Cabinet National Security Cluster in Gen. Santos City on May 19.

Ermita said the abolition of IALAG will not weaken the government’s campaign against terrorism since it still has “other means of monitoring the activities of those trying to destabilize government.”