Hog and poultry raisers seek moratorium on anti-GMO ordinance
BACOLOD CITY -- The Negros Occidental Hog Raisers Association along with the Alliance of Hog Raisers in Negros Occidental and Negros Occidental Poultry Raisers Association have appealed to the Sangguniang Panglungsod for a moratorium in the implementation of City Ordinance 485 Series of 2009 or an ordinance banning and prohibiting the entry of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the city of Bacolod.
The joint Letter of Appeal signed by Albert R.Lim Jr, Rodney C. Taala and Manuel H. Puey said that the hogs and the chickens they raise provide meat requirements for the people in the city of Bacolod.
The excess hogs that they produce are bought by traders and sold in the province of Cebu. They claimed that because of the banning, they are not able to sustain the production because of lack of corn for their feeds and consequently the meat prices will surely go up and the first one to complain will be the consumers in the City of Bacolod.
Lim who is the President of Negros Occidental Hog Raisers Association said that they have already brought this matter to the Provincial Government but the Ad Hoc Committee created has not yet come up with the recommendation for the moratorium of Sangguniang Panlalawigan Ordinance to set aside the apprehension for the corn delivered in Negros Occidental which contains GMO.
"The Province of Negros Occidental does not produce corn in a quantity sufficient for the requirements of the hogs and poultry raisers which uses approximately 920 tons of corn daily. We are buying corn from Iloilo and Mindanao and it will be very difficult to find non-GMO corn because except for the province of Negros Occidental, the farmers are given the choice to decide for themselves what type of corn to plant. Since you can get a higher yield if you use GMO corn then most of the corn in Iloilo and Mindanao are the GMO type," Lim added.
The Letter of Appeal also claimed that since there is no existing laboratory in the province that can accurately detect whether corn and other matters are GMO or not, it will surely open the floodgates of legal action from the stakeholders.
Lim is also against the move executed by the provincial government in apprehending corns with GMO at the Bredco port. He said that the action undertaken by the provincial government is illegal since Bredco is under the jurisdiction of the city government of Bacolod.