As part of compliance to the Article 33 – Monitoring and Reporting of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines, in cooperation with the Competent National Authorities invited the stakeholders to a   Public Consultation on the Fourth National Report on the Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety held on August 23, 2019 at the Biodiversity Management Bureau, Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife, Quezon City.

 The Consultation provided a venue for the stakeholders to be apprised of the activities carried out by the CNA’s in the last four years, to implement the relevant provisions of the Protocol as well as generate comments and inputs to the draft of the Fourth National Report prior to its  finalization and  submission  to the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) by  October 01, 2019

The consultation consisted of presentations on the key features of the  Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, including the country’s’ obligation as Party to the Protocol, the draft of the report filled out by the Competent National Authorities (CNAs), the Notification of the regarding the submission of the report, and the process adopted in developing the report.

The major comments from the stakeholders pertains to whether or not Executive Orders can be considered as National Law, and if there are regulations/instruments in place to address specific issues like damages resulting from LMOs.

The Philippines submitted its 4th National Report to SCBD thru the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) prior to the 01 October 2019 deadline and recognized by the SCBD as one of the earliest countries that provided its report.