He is amused on the debates. "Personally," he writes, "I am laughing
about the excitement about jatropa. I have the plant growing in my
yard. I sent a cavan of it to Ateneo Science department several
years ago. I got no response from them."

He then mentions his researches and local use on kasla. Writes
he, "We (the Ikalahan) use it for a light on the trail at night. It
burns fine." An engineer and a scientist, Rice "tried fractional
distillation. Several of the fractions are gaseous at room
temperature so they escape as soon as the fruit is punctured. A few
of the fractions might be available for fuel but most of them are
not." In other words, so much resource wastage for so few gasses.

He then issues a caveat. "Those heavier fractions are full of resins
that would soon destroy any machine that they were fed to. One of my
friends near Imugan built a small engine and used jatropha. It
worked-for about an hour-then the machine had to be completely
dismantled and rebuilt. I think that he is no longer interested."
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/bac/2006/10/23/oped/benedicto.sanche
z.nature.speaks.html