MASIPAG PRESS RELEASE January 28, 1999 Los Baños, Laguna Philippines
National conference on SA pushes farmer-scientist partnership; anti-TRIPS campaign to reach government
Los Baños, Laguna -- MASIPAG partners, advocates and support groups will convene for the first time in a national conference dubbed 1st National MASIPAG Conference to be held in Kabankalan Catholic College (KCC), Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental on February 4-7, 1999. The conference will highlight the lessons, experiences and local initiatives of and within the MASIPAG network (Magsasaka at Siyentipiko Para sa Ikauunlad ng Agham Pang-Agrikultura) since its inception in 1987 as a farmer-led conservation and research program on rice. Hosted by local partners in Negros, namely Paghidaet sa Kauswagan Development Group (PDG) and the MAPISAN Alliance, the conference will also underscore the role of farmer-scientist partnership as one integral component of a genuine program on sustainable agriculture.
Heard around the country through its on-farm rice breeding program--which has produced seeds that brought in MASIPAG rice in some local markets--MASIPAG is also known for its strong rejection of the chemical-based conventional farming by promoting a uniquely sustainable mode, misnomered by many as MASIPAG technology.
Yet MASIPAG is more than seeds and technology, emphasizes Emmanuel Yap, the networks current executive director and, as a community organizer then, was the one responsible in facilitating the entry of MASIPAG in the fertile lands of Negros seven years ago.
While it practically offers a viable farming option that works well with nature, local culture and specific needs of local communities, it is also a force--as it is now a burgeoning network of peoples organizations and communities--that hopes to integrate people in the dynamic social and political process of pluralistic transformation, Yap added.
This kind of valuation, although we cannot force it upon people, is what we basically intend to substantiate during the three days of our conference. Yes, MASIPAG is about farming and it started there, but it doesnt end just there, theres more to do and learn and accomplish, he said.
Currently, MASIPAG represents more than 10,000 farmers who practise community-based plant breeding (corn and rice) as a cornerstone for sustainable agriculture under one national umbrella since 1986. Its programs are anchored on the philosophy people first before profit and the strategy farmer to farmer mode of transfer.
As an organization that believes in sustainable use and management of biodiversity through peoples control of genetic and biologic resources including local knowledges, it campaigns against such controversial policy framework as the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) which allows patenting of life forms.
Handing-in the anti-TRIPS signature campaign
The first day of the 3-day conference will be utilized to hand in the signature campaign against patenting of all life forms--approximately totalling to half a million signatures by now--which was launched via the anti-TRIPs mobilization held last July 1998 in this fast-rising city of Kabankalan in Southern Negros.
Interestingly, the 7,000 rallyists in Negros were united in their opposition to any form of life patenting. They called on the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry to take an active role in the 1999 TRIPS Review to remove biodiversity from the jurisdiction of WTO.
So far, however, only Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Horacio Boy Morales has confirmed attendance, among government officials invited for the conference. This progressive official touted by many as pro-people secretary will most likely receive the tomes of signature calling for the scrapping of Art 27.3(b) of TRIPs, on behalf of the government.
notes for the editors:
1) Other activities during the conference: field visit to different exposure sites, case study presentations by MASIPAG practitioners and advocates, donorss forum, trade fair and exhibit.
2) Over 7,000 peoplefrom peasants to priests, rural women to students activistsdenounced the intellectual property rights treaty of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) last July 17, 1998. This was the first time in Philippine history that such a number of people mobilized in the streets to express opposition to the patenting of life forms. Focal point of the rally: TRIPS and its implications for the basic sectors of society, particularly the food producers. TRIPS requires that the Philippines enact intellectual property rights (IPR) legislation on plant varieties by the year 2000.
3) If uncontested, TRIPS will allow TNCs and national scientists to obtain legal monopoly rights over Filipino farmers' seeds, without any recognition of the farmers' rights. However, the "plant varieties clause" of the treaty will be reviewed by the WTO member-states this year. Many POs, NGOs, scientists and policy makers around the world want that clause trashed from the treaty. The governments of India and Thailand where farmer mobilizations are strong plus 50 African countries have expressed their determination to change the Agreement, as it goes against the interests of local communities and their sovereignty rights over biodiversity.
4) Local government officials in Negros Occidental also took a keen interest in the ethical, economic and political aspect of the debate. Kabankalan Mayor Elpidio Zayco urged everyone to examine TRIPS and be vigilant about its threats to society. Governor Lito Coscolluela of Negros Occidental through his representative, enjoined the public to take a "critical view" of the patenting life proposal. Congressman Jun Lozada, of the fifth district of Negros Occidental, also sent his representative to express his willingness to work on the issue.
5) Many life forms have already been patented. Recently, RiceTec, Inc. of Texas was granted US patent #5663484 on Basmati rice, taken from India and Pakistan. The patent gives RiceTec a monopoly on Basmati. RiceTec also holds US Plant Variety Protection Certificate #9000075 and an international trademark on "Jasmati" riceconjured as a cross between Thailand's Jasmine rice and India/Pakistan's Basmati. Also, among the string of highly controversial biopiracy cases which stand to benefit patent-holding corporations, mostly US companies are, under the TRIPS regime are: turmeric, ayahuasca and quinoa.
Contact: MASIPAG Secretariat MASIPAG/Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development 3346 Aguila St., Rhoda's Subd. Los Banos, Laguna 4030 Philippines Tel (63-49)536-5549; Fax (63-49)536-5526 email: MASIPAG(at)mozcom.com