Protecting God’s Vanishing Creation
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free, where the world is not broken down by narrow domestic walls, in that heaven of freedom my Father, let my people awake.”
These poetic lines by India’s greatest poet, Rabindranath Tagore, reverberated in India a century ago, as the once passive nation rose-up against British Imperialism and claimed its independence not through a bloody revolution but through a persistent peaceful resistance called SATYAGRAHA (Love Force), championed by the “Father of the Nation” named Mahatma Gandhi. That Indian struggle against an empire which boast of colonizing a substantial portion of the globe thereby aptly earning the description of “an empire where the sun does not set,” had put in clear categorical term the meaning of the slogan, “The people united, can never be defeated!” Indeed, whatever be the odds, be it against an empire or conditions that degrade human dignity such as dire poverty, gross inequity, social injustice or ecological destruction, the people, at the end, will always triumph. But first they have to be conscientized, to be awakened on the fallacies of life, to fight for what is right, what is true and what is just. When that happens, they will come together to harness their collective strength and potentials, founded on a strong faith that they alone can solve their problems. No Ceazar. No Messiah. No social change, if we seek an individual person to be the liberator. We very well know that the socio-economic-ecological problems besetting our country are deeply rooted in oppressive systems and structures, aggravated by flawed processes and only people empowerment is the liberating force.
It is so puzzling why amidst the worsening poverty, aggravated by ecological disasters, the Filipinos have been buried by the mainstream media in the drama of life and focused on trivialities. Never in our history that the imperative call for social change has become so urgent as now, because glaringly our country is now cascading down the drain socially, economically and ecologically, where a few elites have much too much and the many who are poor have much too little. How can the Filipinos be awakened as the people’s mind cannot focus on how they are oppressed no end? How can they rectify social wrongs, being fooled no end by political leaders who are portraying themselves as pro-people yet like vultures have sucked the country dry of financial resources through massive corruption. Yes, the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissenger was right when he once said, “Control their stomach and you control their mind!” How can the people be awakened to fight against oppressive systems and structures and to stand-up to save Mother Earth from further destruction when their mind is focused on where to get the next meal? How to erase hunger and malnutrition? How to support the schooling of their children? Where to get medicine for love ones who are sick? Their main concern is not on issues but on their basic needs to survive. Thus, when there is an opportunity to make some money such as in the forthcoming mid-term elections, they will certainly vote for those who can share some amount for their empty stomach. These dreadful social realities are exacerbated by patronage politics, making the people more socially dependent, so oppressed and powerless.
Notwithstanding this painful truism, we in Task Force Macajalar, a people’s environmental movement for peace, justice and sustainability are still hopeful that we can trailblaze the long-awaited social transformation to harness people power through raising concern for the protection of the environment which we believe is the highest form of worship. Yes, the awakening process can begin by connecting with Mother Earth, to hear the cries of the flowers, the trees, the fish and the birds as oneness with nature is our being. Such was our awakening path with some 6,000 strong members when we were awakened to the truth that protecting God’s vanishing creation is the highest form of worship.
Since 1985, we had been in an environmental movement that was in the forefront of taking direct actions to protect our remaining natural forest and Macajalar Bay. We started with some 30 people’s and non-government organizations who have come together to form our last line of defense to stop our accelerating drive towards ecological disasters. We had the privilege of meeting, organizing and mobilizing thousands of passionate members of Task Force Macajalar composed of farmers, fisherfolk, Indigenous Peoples, women, students and environmental activists in all those years of environmental struggle. We would join forces together at sea as we launched nightly sea-borne patrols to stop industrial pollution and all kinds of illegal fishing activities, including the intrusion of commercial fishing in the municipal waters, raking the bay of fish at the expense of the poor coastal communities. We had been with the farmers for days and even weeks in their farms to introduce sustainable agriculture where nature is treated like a “home” where their basic needs are provided for.
Then in 1990, we had decided to save our remaining dipterocarp forest by staging human barricades that would last until 2002 to stop the flow of logs, passing through the streets of Cagayan de Oro. As you know, in the 1970s to early 1990s, there were an average of 30 to 50 ten-wheeler logging trucks passing from midnight to early dawn while the city was in slumber as there was no “night café” yet at that time. These trucks were carrying “hot” logs as these were cut in protected areas covering the watersheds of Lake Lanao, Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro City. Escorted by armed men carrying Ak-47 or Armalite weapons, they could easily pass check-points, each logging truck paying 5,000 pesos, even if they were carrying fake documents
There in front of Manresa Farms (SEARSOLIN) Upper Carmen, we would dare logging trucks to run over our frustrate bodies on the ground before they could pass. We were able to stop the wanton cutting of our dipterocarp species of trees, that was why in 1993, we received the Public Service Award from Xavier University and in 2000, we received the United Nations’ Outstanding Award for Environmental Protection. In their own right, these environmental activists were “sui generis” as one does not meet often people who are willing to put their lives on the line for nature’s crusade. In India in the 60s, they had a Chipko Movement where logging was stopped as women and children would embrace the trees and would shout that the first ax to cut the trees should first pass their back. This truism was shared to us by a world renown environmentalist from India named Dr. Vandana Shiva, a Nobel Prize Awardee, who came then to join us in barricading logging trucks. I told her that we could not imitate their Chipko Movement to run to the hinterlands to embrace our trees as these armed men of the loggers would shoot us before we can embrace the trees. She said, no problem. If India has Chipko Movement, the Philippines has Barricade Movement.
Allow me to pay tribute to two passionate environmentalists who had already passed away whom I had the honor of inter-locking arms in the silent of the seemingly unending nights in the streets as we put-up a line of defense to bravely face these roaring logging trucks.
Meet Mr. Adolfo Ares, whom we fondly called Ka Ares, a 75-yr. old fisher turned farmer who was a veteran of many “battles” for the forest, an environmentalist par excellence. I remember in 1991, during our first human barricade, we dialogued with then DENR Secretary Angel Alcala, who came on the 5th day of the barricade. It was Ka Ares who gave the most touching speech in tears that made Sec. Alcala, a foremost marine biologist, then and there ordered the cessation of all logging activities because of the massive harm done to the coastal eco-system through massive soil erosion and siltation of the rivers and bays. Ka Ares was one of those who could have been killed out-rightly when an M2K2 grenade was hurled to us barricaders in 1999 but miraculously did not explode. Perhaps it was his strong faith that “darkness cannot defeat the light” or that “If God is with us, who could triumph over us.” He would brave the rains or the heat of the sun, not minding his advanced age, to man barricades, lying frustrate on the ground, daring logging trucks to run over him. He was a fiery speaker for Mother Earth, touching hearts, touching lives. But he already leaped-up to the Great Beyond.
Meet Mr. Antonio “Nong Tonyo” Salcedo. He was then lying on his death -bed suffering from a terminal disease, in fact, he would die three days after. But for Nong Tonyo, the late Chairman of the Federation of Small Fishermen of Cagayan de Oro City, there was no bowing to the unrelenting pain in his bones brought about by cancer. No amount of suffering could hold his restless spirit. He asked his doctor to allow him to join us during the height of our human barricade against logging, advancing as his reason that for him, “PROTECTING GOD’S VANISHING CREATION IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF WORSHIP.” He would like to meet his Creator with dignity to report that he did something to protect sacred nature which is the reflection of the Creator. Nong Tonyo had since leaped to the Great Beyond but his undaunted spirit to save the remaining forest of Mindanao continues to be seen in the thousands of small farmers, fisherfolk, Indigenous Peoples and women who are advancing their inherent rights for a healthy ecology. To both of them, Ka Ares and Nong Tonyo, our firm salute and warm embrace. WE LOVE YOU WITH OUR FIRM BELIEF THAT YOU ARE NOW IN THE LOVING EMBRACE OF GOD!
