BACOLOD CITY – Advocates for a GMO-Free Negros sustained their protest against the proposed introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Negros Occidental, in the international platform provided by the Terra Madre Asia and Pacific 2025.
The protester utilized the major global event on food culture to amplify their calls to uphold the island’s organic capital status.
They have been publicly discussing the various harms of GMOs, emphasizing the threats they pose to farmers’ rights, local biodiversity, regional food systems, and environmental health.
“One reason that the Terra Madre is here is because Negros is organic. We cannot combine GMO and organic agriculture because it will be contaminated,” said Atty. Andrea Lizares Si of GMO-Free Negros Coalition.
Present also in the call to reject GMO were farmer-scientist Charito Medina of MASIPAG; Bob Magalona of the Hotel & Restaurant Association of Negros Occidental; and Ruth Gamboa of the Negrosanon Initiative for Climate and the Environment Inc.
The GMO-Free Negros Coalition has set up a presence at Booth No. 30 at the venue, where advocates are actively gathering signatures for a petition aimed at compelling the local government to scrap the proposed GMO regulatory ordinance that they fear would effectively end the province’s existing GMO ban.
The group is seeking to influence both local policymakers and the hundreds of international delegates attending the Slow Food event, hoping to garner global support. (Theresa Mae Dulman via tvds)