Mend the Wounds of the Mother Earth, Embrace the Sacred Oneness of Life
Humanity is now faced with an urgent choice: awaken or perish. We are on the brink of the Earth’s sixth mass extinction, a catastrophic event that echoes the fifth extinction some 63 million years ago, when a massive asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. But this time, the threat is not from space — it comes from us.
The species Homo sapiens has been called the most flawed of all of creation. In the 20th century alone, we killed over 150 million of our own kind through two world wars. Beyond human bloodshed, we have driven billions of species into extinction, and now we are pushing the planet itself toward ecological collapse.
The time to awaken has come.
We must realize who we truly are — not just physical beings (form), but conscious ones (spirit). As consciousness, we must reconnect with Gaia, our living planet, who has sustained life for millennia but is now being desecrated: Her forests are ravaged, Her biodiversity annihilated, Her lands poisoned by toxic chemicals, Her rivers run dry, Her seas choked with waste, Her ozone layer disappearing.
We are on the 25th year of the 21st century, yet our future beyond this century is no longer guaranteed. The Earth is warming, sea levels are rising, and the climate crisis has brought us to the edge — one minute to midnight on the Doomsday Clock.
We now face an era of intensified natural disasters: massive earthquakes, tsunamis, super typhoons, droughts, and floods — more deadly and frequent than ever before. Nature gives no free meal. After centuries of exploiting Mother Earth for greed and profit under the name of Neo-Liberal Capitalism — or Corporate Globalization — nature is striking back.
The Philippines ranks 4th in the world among nations most at risk from climate change, according to the UN Disaster Risk Index. This ecological crisis is worsened by the destruction of the natural resources that must sustain a rapidly growing population. It took 100,000 years for the human population to reach 10,000, then ballooned to 3.3 billion by 1900. In just over a century, it has more than doubled to over 7 billion today. By 2050, the UN predicts a global population of 9.3 billion — just 28 years away.
This is not just a crisis of the environment. It is a crisis of the human spirit. Will we continue down the path of destruction, or will we awaken to our deeper identity and responsibility as stewards of life?
The world’s rapidly growing population is outpacing global food production. Alarmingly, food production is even declining. According to leading scientists, every one-degree Celsius rise in global temperature causes a 10% drop in the yields of wheat, corn, and rice. Today, over one billion people suffer from hunger—most of them in Asia.
A global famine looms as the Himalayan glaciers, the source of many major Asian rivers, continue to melt. Meanwhile, in the Arctic and Antarctic, an estimated 1,000 hectares of glaciers—each around 386 meters thick—disappear every day. These melting ice masses threaten the Mekong Delta, which irrigates vast rice fields across India, China, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. As sea levels rise and saltwater intrudes, these fertile lands could dry up or become unusable for farming.
This directly affects the Philippines. We import 4 million metric tons of rice each year from these very countries. Our population of 106 million consumes roughly 15 million metric tons of rice annually, but we can only produce about 10 million metric tons locally. If these foreign sources dry up, over 30 million Filipinos could face hunger.
It is high time we become self-reliant in food production. It is a tragic irony: while we export various fruits and cash crops to feed the world, we depend on imports for essentials like rice and milk. Why? Because our agricultural lands are controlled by large agribusiness corporations—not by the farming communities themselves.
While we must remain conscious of the global environmental crisis, we must be even more alert to what is happening in our own country. The Philippines is already in the midst of an ecological collapse. Over the past century, we have lost 17 million hectares of dipterocarp forest. Without our forests to regulate water flow, floods now cause destruction wherever they pass—taking lives, homes, and livelihoods.
In Cagayan de Oro, we have seen firsthand the damage caused by environmental neglect. Our ecosystems are being destroyed without regard for nature or future generations. This has made our city extremely vulnerable to disasters. We must not forget what happened when Typhoon Sendong struck on December 17, 2011. That tragedy was a warning—and if we do not act, worse may come.
In just one night of flooding caused by Typhoon Sendong, around 3,000 people died in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. Over 11,000 families were left homeless. Most of those who died were poor families living in vulnerable, low-lying areas — while the rich and powerful loggers, who were the real culprits, remained safe in their mansions. Yes, these were poor families, but they were still children of God. Many of the victims were innocent children.
Satellite images show a shocking truth: 50 years ago, the uplands of Cagayan de Oro had about 37,000 hectares of forest. Today, only about 1,000 hectares remain. From the 1960s to the 1990s, logging operations continued unchecked — driven by insatiable greed and protected by a powerful alliance of vested interests, including some government officials who were supposed to protect the environment.
For over four decades, massive illegal logging was carried out by six powerful companies: Vicmar, TIPI, Remedios Fortich & Sons, Roa & Sons, Dacudao, and Valderama & Sons. These were heavily guarded by armed men, including those led by the late 2nd Lt. Modesto Eleazar, himself a known illegal logger.
We must ask: Why did the DENR fail to enforce the law? Why were these companies not required to follow the Timber License Agreement (TLA) provision mandating massive replanting in logged areas?
And why were they allowed to log in prohibited zones?
Logging is banned in areas above 1,000 meters in elevation, yet logging took place in the Mt. Kalatungan and Mt. Kitanglad ranges, both over 2,600 meters high. Why were their forests wiped out? Logging is also banned in steep slopes with over 50% gradient. Why was this rule ignored?
Premium species like Red Lauan, Narra, Mahogany, and Almacega were supposed to be strictly protected. Why are these trees nearly extinct now? Because they command high prices in the global market.
In the remote areas of Bukidnon, these logging companies even established sawmills deep inside the forests, guarded with high-powered weapons to keep people out. DENR, what did you do? Where was the enforcement of the rule of law? Don’t you realize that this isn’t just environmental destruction — this is mass murder? The loggers violated environmental laws and caused the catastrophic flooding that led to thousands of deaths. That is indirect murder.
We call on His Excellency, President BBM: Please order a thorough investigation. The rule of law was replaced by the rule of guns, greed, and power. The Filipino people deserve justice, and the Earth demands accountability. This is the raison d’être—the very reason why we in Task Force Macajalar were compelled to launch direct people’s actions: setting up human barricades to block 50 ten-wheeler logging trucks, escorted by armed men, as they passed through the main roads of Cagayan de Oro from midnight until dawn.
Each truck, based on reports, was paying P5,000 at every checkpoint—bribing its way through. They told us we had no power to stop them because 90% of the personnel in the very government office mandated to enforce environmental laws were on their payroll. Out of 17 million hectares of forestland, less than 500,000 hectares remain. And from just one shipment, these loggers could earn as much as P360 million.
Yes, P360 million per shipment. And part of that blood money goes to paying off law enforcers. All of it—all of it—was illegal. These prime trees were being cut from areas classified as protected because of their steep slopes and fragile topography. The Cagayan de Oro River, which flows through our city, is sustained by tributaries from Mt. Kitanglad and Mt. Kalatungan in Bukidnon. It is highly likely that the deadly floods on December 17, 2011, which ravaged Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Cities, were caused by deforestation on Mt. Kalatungan—watershed to both cities. The river systems—Balulang flowing into Cagayan de Oro, and Mandulog flowing into Iligan—were all affected.
One of the major logging operators was Vicmar Development Corporation, holder of IFMA No. 1 since 1997. Other groups were issued massive cutting permits disguised as CBFMAs, granting them Resource Use Permits to legalize plunder. Logging was so widespread that over 200,000 hectares were stripped bare.
As environmental scientists warned: one inch of rainfall on 200,000 hectares of denuded land equals a flood one meter deep when it hits the 200-hectare urban center of Cagayan de Oro. Imagine ten inches of rainfall—ten meters of floodwater.
Even Gaisano—a prominent mall—will vanish under that next flood. Just like what happened during Sendong. Indeed, we have lost our Eden. The Philippines was once incredibly rich in biodiversity. In just one forest ecosystem—Mt. Kitanglad—there exists more flora and fauna than what can be found in the entire one-billion-hectare continent of North America. Our archipelago was once hailed by Dr. Kent Carpenter, former President of the UN-FAO, as the “center of the center” of marine and fishery life on Earth.
But not anymore.
Our once-pristine seas have become dumping grounds for toxic waste from Korea, Australia, and Canada. Of our country’s 13 major bays, 10 are now biologically dead. Of our 25 major rivers, 15 have already dried up. Our forests—our “invisible water dams”—have been destroyed, having supplied the world’s timber needs for decades under the control of an elite few and a new breed of colonizers. Yet despite this ecological destruction, we must still declare our love for our living planet. In one voice, let us shout: WE LOVE YOU, GAIA!
We say NO to the commercialization of Xavier University that sacrifices its cultural and ecological heritage. The Manresa Mini-Forest is home to over 40 species of birds and must be preserved. It should never be offered at the altar of greed and profit. Given the painful ecological reality we face, the cutting of trees in the Manresa Mini-Forest must never happen. That green patch is a vital shield that protects communities like Balulang from another tragedy like Sendong. If it is destroyed, thousands of lives are at risk.