STATEMENT: Former energy secretary and Liberal Party senatorial bet Jericho Petilla said in an April 6 television interview he was “branded the father of renewable energy.”
“Before I came in as secretary, wala kang maririnig na renewable (you would not hear of renewable energy),” he said.
Discussing the prospects for a “good mix” of coal and renewable sources of energy, Petilla referred to the mix in neighboring countries:
“Indonesia’s 80 percent coal.”
Source: GMA News Oplan e-Leksyon: The senatorial interviews: Jericho Petilla (6:50 – 7:02)
FACT: On Dec. 16, 2008, the Renewable Energy Act was enacted. According to KPMG’s 2013-2014 Energy Report, a year before the law was passed, renewable energy already comprised 0.16 percent of the country’s energy mix. By 2010, a Renewable Energy Accelerator Program had been approved.
Petilla was appointed energy secretary in 2012.
In addition, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2015 Indonesia energy analysis said petroleum accounted for the highest portion of Indonesia’s energy mix at 38 percent in 2013. The report also cited Indonesia’s 2014 National Energy Policy which aims to raise coal’s contribution to the energy mix to 30 percent by 2025. That means coal does not account for 80 percent of Indonesia’s current energy mix as Petilla claimed.
Sources:
Renewable Energy Act of 2008, KPMG Energy Report, Renewable Accelerator Program, US Energy Information Administration: Indonesia International energy data and analysis, International Energy Agency’s tabulation of Government Regulation No. 79 of 2014, Indonesia Government Regulation No. 79.
—Andrea Jobelle Adan
(The contributor is one of the University of the Philippines journalism majors who are fact-checking candidates for their Journalism Ethics [J110] course taught by VERA Files trustee Yvonne T. Chua.)