BARRING any hitches, Bohol will soon be the country's first commercial producer of gasoline additive from seaweeds. This after Gov. Erico Aumentado met Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro and Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD) Deputy Executive Director Raul Sabularse at her office in Bicutan, Taguig City. Aumentado brought along KOICA Country Director In Kim and Biolsystems Co., Ltd. President Gyungsoo Kim, Ph. D., for their own guidance to ensure that the project falls within the policies and guidelines set by the department and by the PCIERD on the exploitation of natural resources and the development of alternative fuels. The governor will also bring the two Korean officials this week to Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes for similar guidance. Dr. Kim and Aumentado had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the Bohol Tropics in Tagbilaran City last July 16, witnessed by Ambassador Joong-Jyung Choi. Under the MOU, Bohol will provide areas in its jurisdictional seawaters for seed bank, experimental area and plantation area for red algae of the cottonii variety. It will also provide 60 hectares within the Talibon Special Economic Zone where Biolsystems will establish its US$100 million to US$150 million extraction plant, as well as quarters for its workers.

Biolsystems will buy all the harvest to extract bio-ethanol from – using technology for which Dr. Kim has a worldwide patent, He assured Aumentado and the Boholanos that his facility is environment-friendly. Its biomass byproduct will be used for power generation while the residue will be for organic fertilizer. Dr. Kim also heads the Algahol Philippines Corp. that is now studying initially the seawaters off Talibon, and surveying and staking out the plantation areas. The company has procured buoys, ropes, boats and other equipment for delivery to its office compound in Barangay San Jose, Talibon shortly. Choi returned to Bohol on October 24 for the inauguration of the Algahol office and the groundbreaking for the ultramodern rice processing complex in Pilar town, together with Korea 's Senior Presidential Economic Adviser and National Competitiveness Council Chair Mansoo Kang. Kang had announced during the inauguration that his government, through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), is willing to provide a US$2.9 million grant for the establishment of an algae bio-ethanol research center to go with the extraction facility and plantation.

This triggered the approval of the research center project by the Provincial Development Council (PDC) Executive Committee (ExCom) that Aumentado chairs, and its subsequent endorsement to the Central Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC). Biolsystems undertakes to conduct research and development on improved cultivation methods, specifically for the higher yield algae species and its farming and marketing methods. Aumentado expressed elation when the MOU stated that Biolsystems will give preference to Bohol residents when hiring their workers and ensure that the projects covered by the MOU will not destroy Bohol 's environment nor impair its eco-tourism status and potentials. The center, the extraction facility and the algae plantation falls within the concept of the multi-industry cluster (MIC), a brainchild of Choi that he had proposed during the 60th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines (RP) and Korea at the Blue House last January 2009. Secretary Alberto Romulo of the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Minister Myung-hwan Yu of Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) signed the MOU on the MIC feasibility study during the official visit of President Arroyo to the Republic of Korea last May 30-31. The MIC seeks to address the underdeveloped sectors in the country by putting up investments in areas such as agriculture, labor, and manufacturing. In Korea , it led to productive synergism among the agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing and knowledge-based industries.