Chito Medina, national coordinator of Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (Masipag) and a convener of Resist! Agrochemical TNCs Network, said the consultation is just a way to hasten the institutionalization of a policy that would make it easier for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to enter the country, without a comprehensive safety, environmental impact and socioeconomic impact study.
The manual will detail the processes and forms for a proposed GMO to be studied, tested and eventually commercialized in the Philippines.
The Bacillus thuriengensis (Bt) corn, a corn variety genetically engineered to resist the Asian corn borer, was the first of such GMO crop to be commercialized in the Philippines in 2003. Another GMO crop, a herbicide-resistant corn variety was also approved for commercial release after the Bt corn.
According to Medina, the entry of GMOs threatens the health of the people and the environment.
“As long as proponents have not answered safety and environmental issues raised against GMOs, these should not be allowed in the Philippines,” he said.
He said socioeconomic studies should also be conducted to support the feasibility of these GMOs to help uplift the conditions of farmers.
Scientists and other proponents of GMOs, however, said that scientific evidence have showed that GM crops are safe to human health and to the environment. They ave also showed studies that farmers earn more from GM crops.
Masipag farmers maintain that traditional varieties of crops can sustain the livelihood of small farmers and, thus, “there is no need for these GMOs.”
Wilfredo Marbella, deputy secretary general of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and also a convener of Resist, also scored the proposed policy that will allow proponents of GMO crops to withhold significant information relevant to the proposed project in the guise of “confidential business information”.
He said such policy creates favorable conditions for the massive entry of GMO and GM products in the country.
“Ultimately, farmers will bear the brunt of this policy. While the government allows for the smooth entry of these GMOs, farmers will continue to suffer from higher cost of farm inputs, displacement due to land and crop conversions, and food insecurity,” he said.
“Government policies that directly affect farmers should foremost consider farmers’ rights to land and agricultural resources. Opening the country to GMOs undermines these rights”, Marbella added.
The group said even the indigenous people’s rights are also threatened by such policy.
Tyrone Beyer, policy advocacy officer of the Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (TFIP), said, “The incumbent guidelines on the free, prior and informed consent in relation to activities done on ancestral domains do not assure that this right of indigenous peoples is respected, we cannot expect that this new policy will be any different,” he said.
He said that as long as government agencies are mandated to implement such failed policies and procedures, farmers and indigenous peoples are in a precarious situation.
Moreover, he added that traditional crop varieties in ancestral domains are in danger of being wiped out, which results to further food insecurity.”
“We believe that consultation processes, especially those intended to formulate policies that affect people’s lives and the environment, should be guided by the principle of public transparency which is essential to good governance”, Jean Yasol, policy officer of Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment, also a member of the Resist Network said.
