(Greetings and Acknowledgement)
 
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Maayong buntag sa inyong tanan! Good morning and welcome to the pristine sands of Mactan island!
 
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As leaders in government and industry, we stand at a pivotal crossroads. We are living at a time where we are reaping what has been sowed by those who came before us, may it be good, or otherwise. In any case, we are not here to pass the buck. All of humanity remains united by our present reality - one which allows us to bask in the benefits of technological advancements, while constantly seeking ways to anticipate, avert, or mitigate the global challenges at hand. For us in the energy sector, this would mean that we are standing at the exciting and daunting point of re-shaping our energy future. 
 
ASEAN AS A MAJOR DRIVER OF GLOBAL ENERGY TRENDS
 
Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to engage fellow Energy Ministers and other development partners at the 37th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting in Thailand. During our session with the International Energy Agency (IEA), one of the key points made was that Southeast Asia is an emerging heavyweight in global energy. How so? Even without figuring our East Asian neighbors into the equation, we are already poised to rise as the world’s fourth largest economy by 2030, with about one in ten people living in the region.
 
What does this promising development entail? As regional energy demand grows at an exceedingly rapid pace, increasing energy investments, particularly in the power sector, must be prioritized. IEA projections indicate that from our 2018 level of nearly 40 million US dollars, for the period 2019-2040 we must almost double the amount of our energy investments annually, to sustain the region’s energy needs. Additionally, these upshoots in demand are driving energy import levels upwards, escalating concerns about our energy security. This, again, puts emphasis on the importance of building up energy infrastructure and resources, and strengthening energy efficiency measures even further.
 
Throughout the entire AMEM and even here today, I could not stress enough, the significance of resource development. Given our shared borders within the ASEAN, it is imperative that we jointly explore our available resources both for our peoples’ benefit,  and to help augment regional energy security.
 
We look forward to more developments on this front, especially since the Heads of ASEAN Power Utilities and Authorities have completed two studies of interest. One, on the identification of areas where indigenous resources can be fully utilized for the region, while the other looks into the ASEAN’s primary energy resources for power generation. Their outcomes will be incorporated into the ASEAN Interconnection Master Plan Study III, or AIMS III, which will serve as the primary reference in establishing a full bilateral and multilateral power trading regime in the region. The IEA foresees that greater ASEAN power trade will bring down power costs, improve the security of electricity systems, and add more renewable energy in the mix. Although this goal requires enhanced institutional coordination, common grid codes, and better data sharing, AIMS III is a good start in this direction. It seeks to maximize indigenous RE resource utilization to hit our regional RE energy mix target level of 23%, as envisioned by the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation.  
 
While accelerated progress in Southeast Asia may pose some challenges, ultimately, we find strength in numbers. With a united ASEAN working towards the realization of full energy connectivity and market integration, I am confident that we would attain our vision of energy security, accessibility, affordability, and sustainability for all.
 
AN INCLUSIVE AND SECURE ENERGY FUTURE FOR ALL FILIPINOS
 
For us to successfully reach our energy goals as a region, it is necessary to ensure that our individual national energy agenda are realized. Since day one, President Duterte has been clear - the welfare of Filipino consumers must always come first - and we at the Philippine Department of Energy have taken this directive to heart. The entire energy family does not cease in working doubly, even triply hard to introduce proactive policies and reforms that uphold the wellbeing of consumers. Under the leadership of our President, we now have Executive Order No. 30 and the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop Law - streamlining measures that fast-track energy projects of national significance and boost the establishment of much-needed energy infrastructure by transforming the Philippines into an attractive energy investment destination. 
 
Last month, he also signed the Murang Kuryente, or “Cheap Electricity” Act, which would use the national government’s share of the proceeds from the Malampaya natural gas project to relieve our consumers from the burden of shouldering the stranded contract costs and stranded debt items in their electricity bills. 
 
The Philippine government continues to bring energy services throughout the entire archipelago under the Total Electrification Program. With our current electrification status of 98.33%, we would like to recognize all the efforts of our distribution utilities and electric cooperatives in heeding our call to explore alternative solutions to address the electricity needs of our remaining unserved and underserved areas. Strong private sector support, especially in initiating pilot projects that use current, as well as emerging technologies, has likewise been integral to this cause. This holds particularly true for the various hybrid micro grid projects, which have played a crucial role in energizing the last mile in some of our most remote islands.
 
It remains a sad reality, however, that a glaring percentage of our people continue to live in the margins. While the Duterte administration seeks to fulfill its vision of enabling each and every Filipino to lead strongly rooted, comfortable, and secure lives by 2040, we want and need to empower the children of today with a fighting chance for a better and brighter tomorrow. We could do this by continuing to enhance the synergy between the government and private sector to facilitate the realization of both immediate and long-term energy solutions. 
 
Equally important to inclusive energy access is the security of our energy future. Towards this end, the DOE is actively pursuing a two-pronged approach, which would greatly benefit from private sector participation.

First, we initiated the move towards establishing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving and regasification terminal, in anticipation of the Malampaya gas field’s forthcoming depletion, as well as to ease us into our transition towards greener energy utilization. Then, with LNG spurring what is being internationally called as a “second natural gas revolution”, it also serves a secondary purpose relative to our aspiration of becoming a regional LNG hub.
 
The DOE likewise launched the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program in November last year to reawaken our upstream oil and gas industry. Under this enhanced scheme, investors may look into undertaking exploration and development activities by applying for any of the 14 predetermined areas on offer, or by nominating other potential areas of interest.
 
Energy security is intertwined with reliability. More than ensuring that existing power plants adhere to the highest operational and maintenance standards, we also need to continuously augment our reserves through building new plants, increasing grid capacity, and investing in more transmission lines. These are things that the DOE could not do on our own, but with the full cooperation of the entire energy industry. 
 
SUSTAINABLE TOMORROWS AND THE WATER-ENERGY-FOOD NEXUS
 
Despite racing to meet our current energy requirements, we always make it a point that decisions we make today will not endanger the ability of the coming generations to fulfill their own needs in the future. Some of our notable sustainability milestones are the President’s enactment of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) Law in April, which will institutionalize EE&C across all national government-owned facilities, business operations, and even in the design of infrastructure projects. We have likewise issued policies supporting further RE development, such as the Renewable Portfolio Standards, Green Energy Option Program, and the RE Trust Fund. And in the hopes of spurring more RE activity, we have also proposed the establishment of a Green Energy Rate to bring an additional 2,000 megawatts of new RE generation capacity into the grid. 
 
We will not stop here. For an archipelagic and agricultural country like ours, water, energy, and food concerns are inextricably linked. Just this year, the news roared about water shortages in Metro Manila, the series of yellow and red alerts in central Luzon last summer, and more recently, the buzz about the plight of our rice farmers. As a nation, we face the challenge of really having to maximize the allocation of our limited, yet competing resources. In this regard, perhaps we could consider the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus as another possible approach towards energy security and sustainability. The principle behind this concept is simple. We need water, energy, and food to survive, fight poverty, and bring about sustainable development. And because they are interrelated, it is important to strike a balance among all three, since actions in one sector may more often than not, have a direct impact on the others.
 
Of course this is just one among the many competing schools of thought in sustainable development theory. However, to give us a glimpse of how the WEF nexus could possibly figure in helping shape a sustainable energy future for the Philippines, allow me to briefly use the concept to frame what we hope would be another bright prospect in our RE sector, which is floating solar technology.
 
This is something relatively new for us here in the Philippines, but its advantages, as lauded by proponents, fit into the WEF nexus. It is still in its pilot stages in our country, and the few floating solar projects we have are being evaluated for their ability to withstand heavy weather disturbances and their consequences. Nevertheless, floating solar facilities could be a potential game changer should the pilots prove to be successful. Some of its considerable advantages include improving our capability to maximize land use allocation for other purposes such as farming, agriculture, or as locations for key infrastructure; higher electricity generation efficiencies; a decrease in water evaporation in project sites, which in turn, increase the amount of water that could be used for drinking or irrigation; and slowed algae growth, which would help marine, plant, and animal life flourish.
 
CONCLUSION
 
Whatever sector we come from, there really is a lot to accomplish to get us where we need to be. As we proceed to launch AESIEAP’s theme and agenda for 2019-2020, I am very optimistic that this CEO Conference will be rife with opportunities for all of us to learn from one another, explore avenues for greater energy cooperation, and construct an inclusive and sustainable energy blueprint that would empower our communities and countries to face the challenges of the future. 
 
Thank you to everyone for flying in for this event, and may we have productive discussions in the days ahead. 
 
Daghang salamat, Mabuhay!

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