MASIPAG GA and Mock Trial vs. Monsanto
7 June 2004

Filipino farmers "convict" Monsanto Corporation

"MONSANTO, Guilty!"

This was the resounding verdict that farmers from different parts of the Philippines cried out during a protest action in front of Monsanto's regional office in General Santos City in the island of Mindanao last May 27, 2004. Around 1,000 farmers along with scientists and other NGOs, charged Monsanto guilty for violating farmers' rights to seeds, technology, land and other genetic resources.

To support the 'case' against Monsanto, farmers and NGOs presented facts and evidences gathered from the farmers' experience in the fields.

Three farmers revealed further damaging accounts against Monsanto's Bt-corn which is being widely sold and planted in the Philippines. Pablo Senon, the farmer and tribe leader in Polomolok, South Cotabato recounted the ordeals of the residents of Sityo Kalyong when they simultaneously suffered the same diseases during the flowering stage of the Bt-corn in the nearby field. When Dr. Terje Traavik, a Norwegian scientist revealed that antibodies detected in the blood samples of 37 of the 51 victims they during their initial studies might indicate that toxins entered the body of the people, hence, the human body's natural reaction.

"We have suffered greatly because of the Bt-corn near our homes. Worse, instead of the government helping us out, they are even saying that Dr. Traavik's studies are not credible," said Senon. "The government should stop the commercialization of Bt-corn in the country before more people suffer."

Farmers from Iloilo testified on the failure of the Bt-corn in the farmers' fields and the apparent deception of the companies peddling the genetically modified crop. In September 2003, about 40% of the Bt-corn plants in a ¾ hectare land was damaged by stalk rot, a kind of fungus that dries up the stalk and the leaves of the plant. As a result, the farmer who planted the transgenic corn only harvested around 2,000 kg instead of the expected 4,000 kg. Such cases also occur in other parts of the country, namely in Bicol and South Cotabato provinces where plants were infested, not with corn borer but other diseases such as stalk rot and pests such as the corn silk beetle.

"It only goes to show that using Bt-corn is not a guarantee of a high yield, as opposed to what Monsanto is telling the farmers and the government," said Boy Gonzales, a farmer from Iloilo province in Visayas. "Even if we use Bt-corn, farmers still cannot emerge from poverty because our main problem is the infertility of the soil, the low price of corn in the market, usury, and many others."

Aside from the susceptibility to pests and diseases, farmers also pointed out that Monsanto is milking the small farmers so much money with the high cost of the seeds. A bag of Bt-corn seeds enough for a hectare of land costs P4,500 ($81), compared to ordinary (hybrid) corn which costs almost only P2,300 ($41). The difference is the amount that farmers pay Monsanto as technology fee. Reportedly, there are 20,000 hectares of land planted with Bt-corn, and if Monsanto is earning P2,200 ($40) per hectare, then they earn a staggering P44 M ($790,000) in just year 2003 alone!

"This is a great burden for the small, resource-poor farmers. Most of us have to borrow money with large interests just to afford the high cost of farm inputs," said Nilo Selguerra, a farmer from Iloilo and member of the MASIPAG Board. "Monsanto again proves that profit is their priority, and not the farmers' welfare."

Sarah Wright, researcher and PhD candidate in the University of Washington, gave the opening statement for the 'prosecution.' She presented Monsanto's questionable history and agenda which was published in last year's "Selling Food. Health. Hope: The Real Story Behind Monsanto Corporation," which Wright have researched and written.

"Monsanto's record shows that it is a company that cannot be trusted," said Wright. "It has poisoned communities and ecosystems, created poisons to be sprayed from the sky in times of war and pumped millions of pounds of chemicals into rivers and streams."

"This is the corporation that is now trying to gain our food system through acquiring patents on the very basic mode of production, the seeds."

Other farmers and militant leaders condemned Monsanto and the looming control of transnational corporations in the agriculture sector. They all called for agriculture to be in the control of the farmers, not with transnational corporations with corporate agenda. MASIPAG, along with the local chapter of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines), and SEARICE (South East Asia Research Initiatives for Community Empowerment), all of which are active members of RESIST (Resistance and Solidarity Against Agrochemical TNCs), called for the stopping of the commercialization of Bt-corn in the Philippines.

The protest action is the culmination activity of the three-day long MASIPAG 5th General Assembly held at the Notre Dame of Sto. Niño School in Sto. Niño in South Cotabato. MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development), a network of farmers, scientists, peoples' organizations and non-government organizations working towards farmer empowerment through sustainable agriculture holds a General Assembly (GA) every three years. This year's GA carried the theme, "Strengthening farmers' rights and community conservation of genetic resources in the globalized era" and included several activities such as workshops on different technical and advocacy topics, roundtable discussion among scientists and members of the academe, and internal matters such as election of the new Board of Trustees (BOT). About 200 farmers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao attended the GA, together with representatives from non-government organizations (NGOs), the church and the academe. #