Philippines: Agricultural Biotechnology Annual

The Philippines has been a pioneer within Asia in adopting biotechnology crops. On April 17, 2024, the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling on the Writ of Kalikasan revoked the biosafety permit for commercial propagation of golden rice and directed the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) to cease and desist from commercially propagating and conducting activities relating to Bt eggplant. On October 17, 2024, the Philippine Government petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) to review the decision. Prior to the CA's decision, the Philippines has issued four biosafety permits for commercial propagation: cotton (2023), eggplant (2022), golden rice (2021), and corn (2002). The Philippines is the first country in Southeast Asia to issue regulatory frameworks on genetically engineered (GE) crops for cultivation and regulation for plants and plant products derived from the use of plant breeding innovations (PBIs). The country has also drafted the regulations on animal biotechnology but the policy has not been released.