General Santos City (PNA)- The city government will investigate the reported planting by local farmers of the controversial Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) corn produced by seed giant Monsanto Philippines despite a standing ordinance banning such crop in the city.

Mayor Pedro Acharon Jr. reiterated the city's five-year ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including Bt corn, still stands and its entry into the city was a violation of such measure.

"We will conduct an investigation (on the planting of Bt corn) through our Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council)," he said.

Acharon, member of the city council when the measure was approved more than three years ago, said the distributor of the Bt corn seeds should have followed the local ordinance.

Last week, local Monsanto marketing officer Dennis Miciano confirmed that local farmers in this city and in nearby South Cotabato have started to plant Bt corn distributed by Monsanto's subsidiary Dekalb.

He said some 40 ha of farmlands in the city are now planted to Bt corn. South Cotabato already has 120 ha.

Miciano said they started selling Bt corn seeds this year after the government approved its application for commercialization in December 2002.

It can be recalled that in December 1999, Monsanto, through its subsidiary Cargill Philippines, launched its first Bt corn field test in Barangay Lagao in this city.

However, it was blocked by the city council which was then able to secure an injunction from the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in this city.

The tests continued after the injunction was lifted, prompting the opposition, led by the Diocese of Marbel's Social Action Center, to seek the intervention of higher courts.

The legal battle that reached the Supreme Court (SC) eventually stopped when the high court junked the petition on certain technicalities.

As it turned out, the proponents were able to harvest the first Bt corn field test but further trials were prohibited when the city council passed the anti-GMO ordinance.

Last year, the local business sector actually recommended the lifting of the moratorium on GMOs, citing it a vital factor on the city's bid to improve the agricultural sector and related industries.

It was included in the seven-page "General Santos City Peace and Economic Pact" signed between the city government led by Mayor Pedro Acharon, Vice Mayor Florentina Congson and Rep. Darlene Antonio-Custodio and business sector representatives led by General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry acting chairman Manuel Yaphockun.