DOST to develop biotech website

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – A Philippine biotechnology website will be developed, it was announced here by Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro.

The website is envisioned to serve as an accurate, credible, and up-to-date online source of information on local biotechnology developments, capabilities, activities/initiatives, and policies, Dr. Alabastro said.

The facility will be coordinated and managed by the Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development (PCASTRD), one of the sectoral councils of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The cabinet secretary reported on activities being pursued by DOST in the field of biotechnology during the recent launching of the website of the biotechnology Information Center (BIC) based at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in agriculture (SEARCA) here.

BIC is a joint project of Philippine government-hosted SEARCA and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA)-Southeast Asia Center also based here.

Dr. Ruben L. Villareal, SEARCA director, said the BIC aims to address Southeast Asia’s need for highly credible and factual biotechnology information resources.

Through its website, BIC hopes to share, exchange, and disseminate balanced information on biotechnology to its stakeholders in Southeast Asia.

In her keynote address during the affair, Secretary Alabastro underscored the need for the people to understand and appreciate the potentials, applications and implications of biotechnology.

"By making our people fully aware of its features and prospects, thereby making them appreciate its significance, we would be able to fully harness the benefits of biotechnology," the DOST official stressed.

She emphasized biotechnology’s potential in enabling the Philippines to attain global competitiveness and sustainable growth, as well as comparative strengths in biotechnology research.

Cognizant of this, DOSt has been giving biotechnology a priority status since it was elevated to a cabinet level in 1987. DOST was formerly named National Science and Technology Authority (NSTA) and originally National Science Development Board (NSDB).

"In fact," Dr. Alabastro stressed, "one of our agencies, the Philippine Council for Advance Science and Technology Research and Development as the sectoral planning council for the advanced S&T sector, has managed and implemented a biotechnology sectoral plan. The plan identifies priority programs and pro-jects in research and development (R&D), human resource development, infrastructure building, and technology transfer."

She reported that biotechnology research was undertaken and supported in various areas of application such as agriculture, food processing, health and medicine, industry, and environmental management.

DOST councils, government R&D institutes, academic institutions, and private organizations collaborate in undertakings consistent with the biotechnology sectoral plan, Dr. Alabastro added.

Alongside with the implementation of the plan is the conduct of an information dissemination and advocacy program aimed at promoting popular understanding and appreciation of biotechnology.

Moreover, DOST, through PCASTRD and the Los Baños-based Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD, another DOST sectoral council), has been working closely with biotechnology experts to generate the critical support of various stakeholders, including policy and decision-makers in government, business and industry, non-government organizations, and the public, in general.