GUIDELINES AND POLICIES ON COLLECTION OF BIOLOGICAL SPECIMENS IN THE PHILIPPINES

In October, 1993, 16 months after the United Nations approved the Inte rnational Convention on Biodiversity held in Rio de Janeiro, June, 199 2, the Philippine Congress ratified and adopted the Convention. This i s a manifestation of the full support of the Philippines for the princ iples and policies adopted by the UN body on the conservation of biodi versity, sustainable development of biological resources and equitable sharing of benefits between users and owners of biodiversity resource s. The Philippine scientific community has long recognized the need fo r and importance of a national guideline and policy with regard to the collection of plants and animals in the Philippines for scientific or commercial purposes. A series of consultative meetings were held by r epresentatives of government agencies, non-government organizations, p rivate organizations, academic and private persons concerned with biod iversity conservation to formulate national guidelines that regulate t he collection of plant and animal specimens in the country. Guidelines were unanimously adopted by various government agencies and academia and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed on September 28, 1990. Very recently a new document was drafted, specifically to serve as a g uideline for those who desire to undertake sample collecting in the Ph ilippines for biodiversity prospecting. The document is now being revi ewed by government departments and agencies and will be presented to t he President of the Philippines for signing as an Executive Order (EO) . Once signed, this EO will serve as a national policy for bioprospect ing in the country. The Philippines is one of the countries in Southea st Asia that has endorsed the adoption of regional guidelines on the c ollection of plant and animal organisms for drug development. The ASEA N Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (1985) , The Manila Declaration (1992) and lately, the Melaka Accord (1994), all of which were signed by various countries in Asia, are manifestati ons of this interest.