Senator Sherwin Gatchalian had asked MMSU, through the university President Shirley C. Agrupis, to help the country minimize the importation of fuel oil products by producing more bioethanol through its National Bioenergy Research and Innovation Center (NBERIC).

Speaking before hundreds of university officials, employees, students, and other guests during a convocation program held last January 26 at Teatro Ilocandia, the senator revealed that the country still imports fuel oil products from other countries because only about 250 million liters of bioethanol have been produced annually due to lack of feedstock.

Gatchalian, co-chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Committee for Biofuels, believes that importation of bioethanol from other countries will end very soon with the help of the skilled faculty and students of MMSU in operating this breakthrough. He added that the NBERIC will serve as national bioethanol production facility that produces the product with high commercial value.

Underscoring the importance of developing biofuel industry, Gatchalian said that production of more biofuels will not only lead to lower rate of crude importation, but will also give more jobs to local farmers. He said the Congress has already passed a law in 2006 that seeks to promote biofuel in the country, but he lamented the failed production of biofuels using jatropha plant which was worth P1.4 billion 2007 due to lack of research.

Records show that when it comes to biofuels, jatropha has low production output. Thus, the senator remarked that if the government had only given the P1.4 billion to MMSU, “we might not be importing much fuel from other countries now and that more local farmers should have been given more jobs,” adding that the technology promotion should not be done in impulse and without intensive research because the government’s fund will be lost or wasted in the end.

Anent to this, he commended MMSU, the City Government of Batac, and the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte for their commitment to education and research. He, too, also encouraged other presidents of state colleges and universities in the country to promote quality research by concentrating their own fields where they excel. He also plans to push an initiative that helps every university in building its own research institute.