By CESAR JOLITO III
The three Catholic bishops of Negros Occidental have issued a joint pastoral statement strongly opposing efforts to lift the province’s long-standing ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), warning that the proposal would “endanger public health, undermine farmers and betray the island’s ecological identity.”
The statement comes as the provincial government is deliberating a proposed GMO Regulatory Ordinance that would replace Provincial Ordinance No. 7 (2007), the 18-year-old law that declared Negros GMO-free.
Bacolod Bishop Patricio Buzon, Kabankalan Bishop Louie Galbines and San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said allowing GMO cultivation at this time would “recklessly expose communities to ecological and health risks” and reverse nearly two decades of progress in organic agriculture.
In their statement, the bishops cited scientific findings that GMO-linked farming systems accelerate biodiversity loss, contaminate native seed varieties, degrade soil health and increase farmers’ dependence on multinational seed companies.
They also pointed to global data on glyphosate — a herbicide widely used in GMO-based agriculture — which has been at the center of multibillion-dollar lawsuits abroad and has been linked to cancer, endocrine disruption and liver damage.
“Introducing GMOs into an already climate-vulnerable island is irresponsible, unjust and dangerous,” the bishops said, stressing that organic and diversified farming systems have proven to be more climate-resilient in global studies presented at COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
The bishops underscored that the policy debate is unfolding just as Negros reels from the back-to-back impacts of Typhoons “Tino” and “Uwan,” which caused widespread flooding and fatalities.
These disasters, they said, demonstrate the urgent need to strengthen ecological protection, not weaken it.
“We are still burying our dead. Families are grieving. Farmers are struggling. This is not the time to adopt agricultural systems that deepen vulnerability,” they wrote.
The province, hailed as the Organic Agriculture Capital of the Philippines, has long promoted sustainable farming through the annual Negros Island Organic Farmers Festival and strict GMO-free policies.
‘Ironic, embarrassing’
The bishops called the move to revisit the GMO ban “ironic and embarrassing,” given that Negros is currently preparing to host Terra Madre Asia and Pacific 2025, a global event celebrating ecological food systems and farmer-led sustainability.
“To abandon this identity now is a betrayal of our own people,” they said.
The prelates warned that amending or repealing the ban would violate environmental rights, food sovereignty and constitutional protections related to health and safety. They said any move to open the province to GMOs would be “a moral issue, a justice issue and a life issue.”
The statement criticized what they described as corporate pressures influencing local policy discussions and urged officials to “stand with farmers, not with corporations.”
The bishops appealed to provincial and local governments to uphold the GMO ban, and encouraged national leaders to support agroecology, especially as the Philippines remains among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries.
They also called on parishes, schools, farmers, youth groups, and civil society organizations to mobilize in defense of Negros’ organic legacy.
“Our people have already spoken: No to GMOs. Yes to organic. Yes to a safe environment and a resilient future,” the bishops declared./CJ, WDJ