MANILA - Hotel and restaurant owners in Negros have agreed to support a campaign to make Negros Island an "organic island" that is free of genetically modified organisms (GMO).

The group, headed by the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Negros Occidental (HRANO) also seeks to convince the Provincial Board of Negros Occidental not to ratify its anti-GMO ordinance (Provincial Ordinance 007).

The ordinance is reportedly set to be reviewed because local hog raisers and crop farmers complained that the ban on GMOs has made farming and backyard raising more costly.

The governments of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental had previously entered into an agreement to make Negros Island the "Organic Bowl of Asia", amid biddings to host the 2011 International Organic Conference. However, they lost the bid.

Though there are no GMO rice in restaurants in Bacolod hotels, HRANO members want to preclude the entry of such products.

GMO-free rice
Chef Margarita Fores, an organic food advocate, said GMO products may cause harm to humans. As a thyroid cancer survivor, Fores said she was prompted to support organic food and farming advocacies because she belives that chemicals in GMO and processed food caused her cancer.

She said the campaign will set a good example for other towns in the Philippines, and could even garner international attention.

"It brings so much positive goodwill to the province... because it's the chance for the province to really advance," she said.

Other hotel and restaurant owners, however, admitted that they serve some GMO products like corn and meat at their restaurants because GMO-free products are scant. But this doesn't stop the HRANO from trying, according to HRANO Vice President Aboy Evaristo.

"We love our rice GMO-free. Maybe we would like to send that message that we're serving with rice. If we have a choice, we want that everything [that are] served in our restaurants and hotels be GMO-free," he said.

A similar campaign by restauranteurs by the Bistro Group in Manila, in partnership with international environment group Greenpeace. The project was part of Greenpeace's "I Love My Rice GMO-free" campaign, that seeks to protect diners from GMO contaminated-food.

Greenpeace believes GMO products pose health risks, threaten biodiversity, and affect farmers' livelihoods. - Report by Ragie Mae Arellano, ABS-CBN Negros.