SC reverses own decision banning bt talong

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) has reversed itself in the case involving the government’s field trials of bacillus thuringiensis (bt) eggplants, a genetically modified variety that produces its own pesticide.

In a ruling promulgated last Tuesday, the high court set aside its ruling in December last year permanently stopping the field testing of the genetically modified product, favoring the petition filed by the environmental group Greenpeace.

The SC unanimously ruled to instead dismiss the Greenpeace petition on the ground of mootness.

The high tribunal granted the consolidated appeals of multinational firms and farmers pushing for the field trials, propagation and commercialization and importation of the bt eggplants.

It agreed with the argument in the motions for reconsideration that the petition of Greenpeace should have been dismissed following the completion and termination of the bt talong field trials and the expiration of the biosafety permits.

“These cases, which stemmed from respondents’ petition for writ of kalikasan, were mooted by the expiration of the biosafety permits issued by the Bureau of Plant Industry and the termination of bt talong field trials subject of the permits. These effectively negated the need for the reliefs sought by respondents as there was no longer any field test to stop,” the SC explained in its new ruling.

The court also admitted that it should not have acted on the constitutional question on the issue of whether Department of Agriculture Administrative Order No. 08-2002 was unconstitutional as the matter was only collaterally raised in the petition.

In its earlier decision, the high court also voided the DA order that provided rules and regulations for the importation and release into the environment of plants and plant products derived from the use of modern biotechology.

Lastly, the SC also noted that the earlier orders of the Court of Appeals (CA) stopping the field trials after hearing the same case are “no longer capable of execution.”

In May 2013, the CA issued a writ of kalikasan directing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other concerned government agencies to permanently “cease and desist” from further conducting field trials of bt talong in the country.

The case reached the SC after the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications Inc., Environmental Management Bureau, Crop Life Philippines Inc., University of the Philippines Los Baños Foundation Inc. and  University of the Philippines filed separate petitions seeking reversal of the CA ruling and which were later consolidated by the SC.