With one key difference. In Brazil, ethanol is manufactured from a sugar cane, and biodiesel is made mostly from soybeans. In the Philippines, the magic feedstock is coconut.

There are a lot of coconuts in the Philippines. But 2006 was a rough year for coconut farmers. The Philippine islands were ravaged by a string of super-typhoons, devastating production. Now, reports Biopact, legislator Juan Miguel Zubiri, the author of the Biofuel Act, is suggesting that profits from the biofuel program be allocated toward the replanting of coconut plantations in the affected areas.

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GLAN, Sarangani -- The art of coconut wine making is not lost at all after all those decades of being bombarded with commercially-branded intoxicating beverages.

In fact, a group of backyard producers here, with the support of the local government and concerned agencies, have recently banded in a bid to at least earn a pie of the liquor industry's cheap-end category.

They hope to vie for a market slice through "bahalina," an alcoholic beverage produced from coconut, the "Tree of Life."

Mayor Enrique Yap, Jr. said several residents have formed a group called Bahalina Producers Association in an effort to consolidate to finally penetrate the local beverage industry.

"This is a positive step in the town's quest to make bahalina known not just in nearby areas but across the nation as well. Hopefully, bahalina from Glan will also become popular in the international market," he said.

Records from the municipal planning and development office showed that the land planted with coconuts reached 33,192 hectares. Copra production, coconut's main product depended on by the residents, in the town yields at least 52,532 tons a year, it added.