The Department of Science and Technology (DoST) is embarking on a four-year program aimed at making the Philippines a leader in Southeast Asia in the field of biotechnology as it steps up research and development of various agribiotech products with the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Under the DoST's Biotechnology R & D Agenda for 2006-2010, biotechnology projects have been classified into food, industrial, environmental, medicine and health, agricultural and forest, marine and aquatic biotechnology. Each area has been assigned to the DoST's R & D Councils, which will conduct and pursue research and development.

DoST Secretary Estrella Alabastro said the Philippines has the competitive edge in biotechnology because biology training and research is developed in the country.

She said it also has well trained scientists and technologists in the field and has diverse flora and fauna, which are excellent resources for biological processes. The Philippines is aiming to establish its niche in the booming global bio-enterprise, with biotechnology counted as potential export-revenue generator.

Banking on the country's comparative strengths in its biodiversity and an adequate number of highly trained scientists and researchers in biotechnology and related fields, the Export Development Council recently added biotechnology as a new sector in its Cluster Strategy for export development.

The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) will head research and development in the areas of agriculture, forestry and environment, which include the development of transgenics and conventional biotech products, and bioremediation.

PCARRD's researches will focus on transgenics such as the development of the papaya ring spot virus (PRSV) resistant transgenic papaya and delayed ripening papaya, cloning of genes from coconut and on conventional biotechnology researches.

Marine and aquatic resources, and environment in general, which involves bioactive compounds, diagnostics, genetic improvement and bioremediation will be handled by the Philippine Council for Aquatic Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD).

The area of health, which involves research and development of vaccines and bioactive compounds will be under the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD).

On the other hand, specialized fields such as bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, forensic science, diagnostics, biosafety, food safety, and intellectual property management of biotechnologies will be under the Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development (PCASTRD).

Meanwhile, the Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD) will focus on two major areas -- functional food and biofuels, which include coco methyl ester, bioethanol and biodiesel from Jatropha curcas.

The National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) will be in charge of screening and taxonomic studies, which are basic research.

Under the same agenda, biotechnology will now be divided into two general categories - genetically modified (GM) technology and non-GM technology or conventional biotech -- to address the problem arising from policy issues associated with transgenics or GM products.