A lawmaker from Mindanao has proposed a novel way to address the problem of rising fuel prices and energy costs in the country—develop and harness deuterium deposits.

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers on Friday, Jan. 24, said that he filed a bill seeking the creation of an agency that will focus on research and development of deuterium, known as a fuel for nuclear fusion reactions, after having identified that the Philippine trench has the largest deuterium deposits in the world.

For Barbers, it is only imperative to explore and invest in alternative energy sources, like deuterium, that are sustainable and environmentally friendly because the continued dependence on fossil fuels as the main energy source "exacerbates global warming through excessive carbon emissions, threatening ecosystems and the well-being of future generations".

Deuterium is a hydrogen isotope with a neutron. It occurs in about one out of 6,400 hydrogen atoms, and is said to be naturally abundant in oceans.

"It is a clean energy source that produces no harmful carbon emissions, with its byproducts limited to water vapor or steam. It can also serve as a replacement for traditional fuels such as gasoline, LPG and aviation fuel, offering a versatile and sustainable solution for powering internal combustion engines," Barbers explained.

Under House Bill (HB) No. 11295 that was filed last Jan. 15, Barbers highlighted the need to establish an agency to be called the Philippine Deuterium Research and Development Authority (PDRDA) to prepare the country and take proactive steps toward exploring deuterium--an untapped energy resource in the Philippines.

Under the measure, the proposed PDRDA office will be an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) which, aside from being an R&D (research and development) office for deuterium, would be authorized to facilitate the entry of foreign expertise and resources in order to accelerate the scientific information and technology transfer of local expertise on deuterium-based energy source.

There is also a need to create a Board of Trustees from the government and from energy research and related fields, as well as representatives from the private sector and organizations of scientists and engineers.

Since the 1980s, Barbers said, there had been persistent reports that the Philippines has the largest deposit of deuterium in the world, particularly in the Philippine Deep, and that mining it would pay off for the benefit of the country’s economy.

"Di natin maisasa-isantabi na ang mga malalaking oil companies at ang mga bansa na nagpro-produce nang langis ay threatened so potential ng deuterium as an alternative energy source dahil magigiba ang kanilang mga ekonomiya sakaling ma-explore, harness at makapag-mina tayo ng deuterium (We cannot set aside the fact that big oil companies are threatened by the potential of deuterium as a source of an alternative energy because their economy will become different if ever we explore, harness and be able to mine deuterium)," he said.

"So, hindi malayo na mag-e-exert sila ng effort or pressure o kaya disinformation para ma-diskaril and R&D natin sa deuterium na tinaguriang 'fuel of the future' (So it's not impossible that they will exert effort or pressure as well as resort to disinformation in order to stop the R&D on what is called the 'fuel of the future')," he added.

Barbers said that as of 2021, the use of deuterium as a large-scale power source was still in the early research phase. And according to the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), the study is still ongoing, thus "technologically speaking, deuterium as fuel has not been widely researched and has only been used for nuclear fusion reactor prototypes," he said.