Press Release

Farmers Planting Petroleum Nut At Mount Data National Park

By Emmanuel Aranas


Bauko, Mountain Province --- Farmers within the Mount Data National Park led by former Mountain Province governor Sario Malinias are planting thousands of petroleum nut (Pittosporum resineferum) trees within the national sanctuary.

They intend to reforest most of the 5,512 once mossy forest which has been laid bare by vegetable farming. Petroleum nut is endemic at Mount Data but it has been lost due to commercial vegetable farming.

They are being assisted by Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan who have worked in producing thousands of petroleum nut trees and have started extracting oil for biofuel from the tree. Dr. Bengwayan is the director of the Cordillera Ecological Education, Training, Research and Information Centre known as PINE TREE, a non-profit organization working against environmental decay and poverty.

According to ex gov. Malinias, many Bauko farmers received training from PINE TREE in an effort to plant petroleum nut to serve the energy needs of rural farmers in cooking, lighting, heating and drying.

He said they are preparing to attain a sustainable and efficient source of clean fuel for the future because fossil fuel such as diesel oil, kerosene and gasoline will soon be depleted and will turn very expensive.

The petroleum nut caught national attention when it was bared by Dr. Bengwayan to several newspapers and national television channels that it is the country’s most promising biofuel source.

Already, seedlings have been distributed to as far as Bicol, Zambales, and Bulacan. Besides Bauko, the Benguet town of Kapangan has planted the most seedlings that have been donated by PINE TREE.

The Japanese environmental group ENECON Japan has signified its interest to plant the tree and extract its oil. ENECON Supervisor Takashi Kato bared that he is asking ENECON top management in Japan to go into petroleum nut venture here in Benguet.

PINE TREE has already proven that the oil can be used for cooking using a gravity type kerosene stove and for lighting using a home-made peteol-lamp. This was demonstrated to GMA 7 television crew Kapuso that traveled all the way from Manila to film the project.

PINE TREE is engaged in fabricating lamps and stoves that will be used by rural homes utilizing petroleum nut oil as fuel with the assistance of the British-based Ashden Sustainable Energy Program/30