By Bishop Jose Colin Bagafore, D.D., Diocese of Kidapawan, ECSA-JP outgoing chairman and Caritas Philippines outgoing president; Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, D.D., Diocese of San Carlos, ECSA-JP incoming chairman and Caritas Philippines incoming president
The Church is actively listening to the cry of the earth and to the cry of the poor.
The Episcopal Commission on Social Action-Justice and Peace/Caritas Philippines fully supports the protest of the faithful, who are indigenous communities and residents of the Municipality of Dupax del Norte from Nueva Vizcaya Province, against the mining exploration activities of Woggle Corp.
We recognize that the protection of their environment and watershed, as well as their very lives and livelihoods, is a righteous fight for the people of Dupax del Norte.
Performing our prophetic role, we are dismayed that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has granted Woggle Corp. an exploration permit despite lacking genuine consultations and informed consent among community residents. We are alarmed that these exploration activities could lead to large-scale mining operations in a watershed or protected area which the law clearly prohibits. Such injustice must be exposed and resisted.
Similar to the struggles of mining-affected communities and environmental human rights defenders, we stand in solidarity with the protestors, who remain steadfast in preserving their communities and natural resources for future generations. This is a central call for ecological conversion as espoused in the encyclical Laudato Si of Pope Francis.
This expression for the care of our local resources and our planetary home is in line with the Church commitment to integral ecology and social justice.
We call on the Marcos, Jr. administration to immediately act on the valid complaints of the people, including the reported dispersal of the peaceful protests. We lend our voices demanding the revocation of the mining company’s permit and for a full stop to all exploration activities.
We encourage the faithful to continue praying for all the stakeholders including the government, the mining corporation and the affected communities, so they can find a convergence of their interests after holding dialogue towards discernment. This is the intent of the spirit of synodality that we have been upholding as a Catholic Church. While we stand as protectors of the reverence for life, we also call for everyone to reject violence, as we increase our voice against repression, injustice, environmental devastation and violations to people’s human rights and dignity.
With constructive engagement, we call for the restoration of fairness and righteousness. Together, we can shift the current paradigm of exploitation to one of care for the environment and the marginalized.