Charles Martin, corporate communications official from Monsanto, told Reuters some 300 farmers uprooted Bt corn, which contains the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins and is resistant against the corn borer pest. The farmers from outside the region of Pampakan were paid for the attack last week by non-governmental organisations of communist farmers and labour unions, which had tried to prevent Monsanto from planting the Bt corn, he said.

Monsanto currently had seven test sites for GM products in the Philippines and hoped to begin commercial planting of Bt corn in the country next year, Martin said via telephone from India.