Congress leaders back biotech industry’s dev’t

MANILA, Philippines - Congressional leaders have batted for the development of the country’s biotechnology industry to help accelerate the growth of the national economy.

They made this pitch in the Biotechnology Seminar for Policymakers held last Jan. 21-24 at the House of Representatives in Quezon City.

An exhibit titled “Pinoy Biotech Products: Contributing to Sustainable Agriculture, Improved Health and Better Environment” was also mounted during the seminar, which was hosted by the House committees on agriculture and food, science and technology, and food security.

The seminar was organized by the office of Agham party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones, National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), UP Los Baños-National Institute of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology (UPLB-BIOTECH), Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture-Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA-BIC), Philippine Science Journalists Association Inc., Department of Agriculture-Biotechnology Program Office, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), and Program for Biosafety Systems Philippines.

Seminar speakers and resource persons were SEARCA director Dr. Gil Saguiguit Jr., UPLB-BIOTECH director Reynaldo Evera, and successful biotech corn farmer Rosalio Ellasus of San Jacinto, Pangasinan.

Setting the science forum’s tone, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said a message that the activity showcased was “the great potential in which further inroads will be made in the growth of the biotechnology-based industry in out country.

Belmonte noted that biotechnology has grown into a global multibillion-dollar industry, offering the world highly innovative products, including safer, more effective pharmaceuticals, less capital-intensive crops, and less-polluting industrial and agricultural production systems.

Belmonte said the world is now faced with such new challenges and concerns as climate change, dwindling fresh water supply, non-renewable energy sources, and inadequate environmental protection.

“The good news,” he said, “is that alongside the emergence of these challenges, parallel advances in science are being made.”

The Speaker lauded the science and technology (SAT) and research and development (R&D) sectors for their significant studies whose results, specifically upcoming biotechnology crops, “hold significant potentials in helping increase agricultural yield and farmers’ income.”

He reported that a bill that seeks to provide incentives to the private sector to invest in biotechnology R&D has been filed. The bill provides for allowing the total R&D cost and prices of shares of stocks in biotech companies as tax-deductible.

Another bill seeks to establish the Philippine Bio-industry Research and Development Center to, among other things, develop and market competitive biologically based technologies and products.

Belmonte said initiatives to promote greater awareness of the potential benefits of biotechnology should continue.

Saguiguit expressed hope that the seminar would lead to “sound national policies that will support R&D and capacity-building, and set directions for science and education for the implementation of national biotechnology programs.”

He reported that the UPLB-based SEARCA, in collaboration with ISAAA, has established the Biotechnology Information Center, an online portal, to provide science-based information about biotechnology to the public.

“Through this one-step information facility, we hope to give the public a fair and unbiased picture about biotechnology and arm them in making informed decisions and choices about it,” Saguiguit said.

For his part, Palmones said, “Biotechnology holds a great promise and potentials in helping the country achieve and sustain food security, provide better health services, and attain sustainable environment.”

He underscored the need for more “biotech advocates from the media to help enlighten the public and have balanced views of the field.”