Keep Bohol GMO-free

The GMO-FREE BOHOL COALITION, a multi-stakeholder group of Bol-anons advocating for sustainable food systems, environmental conservation, sustainable development, farmers rights and the people’s right to health and a healthy and balanced ecology, affirms Bohol’s stance and commitment to be GMO-Free and assert their standing ban on any form of GMO propagation anywhere in Bohol.

In 2003, through the combined efforts of grassroots stakeholders, civil society, nongovernment organizations, and the provincial government of Bohol, the province of Bohol, with the passage of Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP) Resolution No. 2003-235, declared itself free from GMO (genetically-engineered or modified organisms or products of genetic engineering or genetic manipulation of an organism’s genome using modern biotechnology to produce transgenic plants, animals and micro-organisms with novel traits.

This SP resolution was cemented with the enforcement, shortly thereafter, of Provincial Ordinance No. 2003- 010 or “The Safeguard Against GMOs”, which decrees that “no person shall conduct any laboratory or field-testing or any activity whatsoever for the propagation of or experimentation related to GMOs of any plant, animal, or microorganism in any area within the territorial jurisdiction within the Province of Bohol”.

This legal instrument remains a landmark achievement for Bohol, oft-cited and benchmarked by other local government units in their bid to prevent the introduction of GMO production in their towns and provinces.

We are deeply alarmed and concerned by recent pronouncements from the top leadership of the Bohol Provincial Government and the Department of Agriculture Regional Office in openly supporting and promoting GM crops, and laying out plans of establishing plantations, specifically of BT corn and golden rice, in Bohol, which is directly violative and desecrates the very intent of Bohol’s GMO-Free ordinance to protect and ensure the health of both our people and the environment from the negative threats and impacts of GMO cultivation.

We, therefore, call on the Provincial Government of Bohol to: 1.) Discontinue any support and facilitation of any field-testing, promotion, and plans of establishing GM crops cultivation, including the trading and/or commercialization, in Bohol, and instead 2.) Strengthen Bohol’s GMO-Free policy and GMO monitoring system, 3.) Boost the promotion and development of GMO-Free organic agriculture as the flagship strategy for agricultural development in Bohol specified in Provincial Ordinance No. C-2011-001 or the Bohol Organic Agriculture Code, 4.) Uphold and boost genuine participatory processes with earnest communications, consultation, and partnership with all stakeholders including organic farmers, and, 5.) Develop a systems approach in addressing food security, including the enhancement of social protection programs for small farmers and farming communities.

We call on the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Bohol to: 1.) Study the implementation of and duly exercise their oversight function over Bohol’s Safeguard Against GMOs ordinance and other provincial laws that support a GMO-Free Bohol, and, 2.) Strengthen regulatory policies on Bohol’s agriculture industry.

We urge the Department of Agriculture to: 1.) Respect Bohol’s GMO-Free policy, 2.) Cancel any plans of GM crops propagation in Bohol, 3.) Promote RA 10068 or the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 and protect farmers rights to seed, land and resources, and, 4.) Uphold the constitutional right of the people to health and a healthy and balanced ecology.

The Province of Bohol has clear policies in safeguarding the health of its people and ensuring the conservation and sustainable management of its environment. And with lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the urgent need to intensify Bohol’s agenda for food self-sufficiency, food security, and nutrition must veer from grandiose industrialist agriculture solutions and should be oriented towards the development of resilient, sustainable and equitable food systems that are attuned to the local context, culture, and natural biodiversity.

Bohol’s food revolution will be ultimately Bol-anon, and it will be GMO-free.