President Arroyo has ordered energy-saving measures to cut electricity and fuel consumption in all government agencies to address the rising power costs, Malacañang announced on Wednesday.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in his weekly news conference that the President issued the directives through Administrative Order (AO) 228, where the Chief Executive ordered a 10-percent cut in the fuel consumption of all government agencies beginning this month.

Under AO 228, signed on June 2, 2008, the President ordered that all government buildings—except those with 24-hour work—shall turn off their air conditioners by 4:30 p.m.

Starting next month, government offices will implement plans to replace all incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient lighting; by September, they are expected to convert 20 percent of their vehicles in major cities to run on liquefied petroleum gas.

Agencies, with the help of the Department of Energy and the Department of Science and Technology, are also expected to adopt other energy-saving technology.

Ermita said that individual agencies would shoulder the cost of carrying out the directives, which could be tapped from their respective contingency funds.

The government estimates savings of as much as P1.44 billion per year if each of its  80,000 vehicles observe the program of “saving one liter a day” or reducing regular fuel consumption by a liter daily.

“If only those 80,000 government vehicles using diesel will save one liter per day, in a year we will save P1.4 billion. It’s not only government vehicles, but also private, you can imagine, public consciousness to cooperate using that scheme of saving will really help all of us. Maybe within three to six months of saving we can see the beneficial effect,” Ermita said.

The Energy Audit Team, chaired by former Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Waldo Flores, had earlier reported to Ermita that the country can reap savings of P78.8 billion a year if all of the country’s 4.3 million gasoline-fed vehicles would save a liter of fuel every day.

THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board has approved P41.22 billion worth of projects to be funded through official development assistance (ODA).

SENATORS, voting to approve key amendments to the Preneed Code on second reading, agreed to impose additional restrictions on how pre-need funds can be invested in a bid to strengthen protection for planholders and make the industry more viable.

HAS the lean season crept in much earlier in Central Luzon with the queues of buyers of the P18.25-kg government-subsidized rice becoming noticeably longer?

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The city government, through the Local Price Coordinating Council (LPCC), has created a rice-monitoring team to identify reasons of inexplicable increase in the price of rice in this city.

THE recent announcement by local oil companies that they would need to increase oil prices by as much as P10 to P11 per liter highlights the urgency of reinstating regulation of the oil industry, according to independent think tank IBON Foundation.

President Arroyo has ordered energy-saving measures to cut electricity and fuel consumption in all government agencies to address the rising power costs, Malacañang announced on Wednesday.

Citing the big role of information and communications technology in national development, Sen. Edgardo Angara said he is supporting a bill calling for the establishment of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

IN a message sent to konsyumeratbp@gmail.com, a reader inquired about his right to return a defective product.

Mr. Rommel Adolfo bought a pair of rubber shoes at a shopping center in Metro Manila. He shelled out more than P4,000 to get an original, well-known brand that he thought could last for years or at least up to its recommended 350 miles to 550 miles of use.