DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Advocates of sustainable agriculture welcomed the decision of the Bureau of Plant Industry to cancel the permit to test-grow genetically modified eggplant, locally referred to as “BT talong.”
The bureau had granted the permit to the University of the Philippines in Mindanao and the Visayan State University in Baybay, Leyte.
In an order dated December 29 but made public by groups opposed to the propagation of genetically modified organisms on Tuesday, BPI director Clarito Barron said all Biosafety Permits for field testing were being suspended due to lack of public consultation before these were conducted.
“All activities related to the field trial must cease immediately until rectification of the condition for public consultations is carried out,” Barron said.
Barron pointed out that in the case of UP Mindanao and the VSU, no public information sheets had been posted in the city hall of Davao and the municipal hall of Baybay.
The lack of public consultation also angered Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
She ordered a halt to the testing and the uprooting of Bt talong plants here—some of which were already in the flowering stage—in December.
Prof. Nilo Oponda, UP Mindanao vice chancellor for academic affairs, later said in a statement that the university never violated any law when it went through with the field testing.
But he admitted that the university did not post the public information sheet that the BPI had required of them.
“UP Mindanao has not violated any requirements that would impact on biosafety and public health. The cease and desist order is not based on violation of any of these concerns but only on an administrative lapse—the lack of posting of the public information sheet (PIS),” Oponda said.
Oponda also maintained that the testing was done in a confined site.
Lia Jasmin Esquillo of Go Organic Mindanao (GOM) said that with the decision, the BPI should also cancel permits it issued to other institutions.
She pointed out that eggplant modified with the genes of the Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) bacteria is still being tested at the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato; Sta. Maria, Pangasinan; Pili, Camarines Sur; Sta. Barbara, Iloilo; and Bae in Laguna.
“We ask the Department of Agriculture to suspend all field trials on BT eggplants because we are certain that that the proponents have violated provisions in the permit,” Esquillo said.
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