LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—Filipino scientists here said they would apply for commercial propagation of the genetically modified (GM) eggplant, following the unanimous ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) reversing its earlier ruling that temporary stopped the field testing of the GM eggplant.
Dr. Desiree M. Hautea, the project leader of the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) talong (eggplant) project, said the application would proceed immediately after they would have consolidated the data from the series of tests done since 2004.
The tests included contained trial in the laboratory, a limited confined field trial and a multilocation field trials in Luzon and Mindanao. The tests done would probe into the biosafety feature of the genetically engineered eggplant; its health safety to human and animals; and environmental safety in relation to other plants around the area planted to the Bt eggplant.
“It’s a good scenario,” Hautea told visiting journalists on Friday at the compound of the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Graduate Studies and Research in Agriculture that is stationed inside University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) campus. She said the High Court’s decision has cleared the way for further research and development studies on Bt eggplant and other genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
She hoped the application for commercial propagation would be approved within the year to allow them to proceed with seed production for the open-pollinated and hybrid varieties. The UPLB-based plant and agricultural scientists have already identified the areas for planting during the last 10 years “that we have monitored and observed these areas.”
Pangasinan is on top of the list of prospective planting sites, owing to its dominant production volume of a third of total Philippine eggplant harvest. Despite the uprooting of eggplants in the Davao City field-testing area, it remained in the top 10 preferred sites for final propagation.
Social conflict
Hautea said they would hold another round of public hearings to increase public adaption of Bt eggplant, presenting the result of the laboratory and field tests as their proof of biosafety and economic profitability for farmers.
She said it was likely conflicts will arise, though, in the farms as disagreements and misunderstandings persist on GM crops.
“That’s where the local governments must come in to manage it,” she said, but emphasized that she would not expect any case of uprooting anymore, even in the level of the farms after the SC ruling.
“No one has the right anymore to uproot these plants,” she added.
Supreme Court reverses ruling
In a unanimous decision, the Philippine SC on July 26 reversed its December 2015 ruling, which temporarily stopped the field testing, propagation, commercialization and importation of GMOs in the country.
In the en banc session, the SC granted nine motions for reconsideration filed by Bt talong proponents and issued a new one, dismissing on the ground of mootness the petition for writ of continuing mandamus and writ of kalikasan filed by Greenpeace Southeast Asia (Philippines) and Magsasaka at Siyentipiko sa Pagpapaunlad ng Agrikultura.
The SC agreed with the petitioners that the case should have been dismissed in view of the completion and termination of the Bt talong field trials and the expiration of the biosafety permits in 2012, Crop Biotech Update said in its web site. The Court also said it should not have resolved the case on its substantive merits due to mootness, and should not have acted on the constitutional question of whether the Department of Agriculture (DA) Administrative Order (AO) 08-2002 was unconstitutional, citing that this matter was only collaterally raised.
The Court also said the exceptions to mootness were not present and, thus, the Court should not, in the first place, have decided the matter, Crop Biotech added.
In December 2015 the SC not only stopped the field testing of Bt talong, but also temporarily stopped any application for field testing, contained use, propagation and importation of GMOs; it also nullified DA AO 08-2002, saying the order lacked the minimum safety requirements under Executive Order 514, which established the National Biosafety Framework.