DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte said on Monday that she wanted the permit given to the University of the Philippines-Mindanao (UP-Min) by the Bureau of Plant Industries (BPI) to be revoked and for the university to apply for a new permit.

Duterte's statement came after she issued a cease-and-desist order to the field testing of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplants at the UP-Mindanao campus in Mintal.

The field test at the UP-Min came to a halt December 17, four days after the issuance of the cease-and-desist order.

Some 1,800 hills of regular eggplants intended to serve as pollen traps were uprooted in the presence of City Agriculturist Office officer-in-charge Leonardo Avila III.

According to Duterte, the city's contention was that there was one crucial provision in their permit that UP-Min didn't follow. "That's why i-revoke nato ang permit and for UP Mindanao to apply again the proper procedure," Duterte said in a press briefing.

The mayor said that the university was also unable to conduct a public consultation through the posting of the Public Information Sheet for Field Testing.

Based on Administrative Order (AO) 8 Series of 2002 of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the consultation is a requirement, which detailed the approval process for field testing of regulated articles.

"The public information sheet should be given to the City Hall, which is very crucial. (Since there's none), it would mean there was no notice given to the City of Davao," the Mayor said.

Duterte said UP-Min in a conversation last week admitted to her they had procedural lapses.

She said the university requested to be allowed to reverse their procedure, that is, they will hold the consultation now without the plants being uprooted. "I said no," Duterte said.

The UP-Min statement posted outside the field test area said that information sheets were posted in Bago Oshiro, Mintal and the City Hall. It also claimed that seminar workshops were held regarding the benefits of Bt eggplant, contrary to what they have admitted to the mayor.

To this, Duterte said: "It is not the duty of the City Government to answer the question. Ang nahitabo man gud nakadirect na tanan sa City Government ang questions when the City Government is not part of that project. Dapat in the first place nahan-ay tanan, natubag tanang pangutana, before sila nahatagan ug permit (What happened was all the questions were directed at the city government when it is not part of the project. They should have answered all questions before they were given the permit)."

The mayor said the city is currently awaiting the response of the BPI regarding their request to have the university's permit revoked.

Not at fault
The mayor sympathized with UP-Min, saying it's not their fault they were given a permit even though they still had not complied with their requirements.

Duterte also said there were some hindrances to the city's communication with the university.

"They did not ignore our letter. What happened was last Monday, they said they sent a letter when at the same day I also sent the cease-and-desist order. Then they also requested for reconsideration. You could see on the letter the marks for the date received," Duterte said in vernacular, referring to her CDO dated December 13, 2010.

For reasons known only to UP-Min, Duterte's earlier letter dated October 16, 2010, in which she raised her concern about the open field trial of Bt eggplant in Davao City was received by UP-Min only on November 15, ten days before the university transplanted the controversial eggplants to the field.