Statement on Environmental Concern

By United Church of Christ in the Philippines, East Visayas Jurisdictional Area
February 12, 2011

We, the Participants of the Community-Based Disaster Management Seminar Trainers’ Training held on February 10-12, 2011, at the UCCP, Bangcas-A, Hinunangan, Southern Leyte, comprising Church Workers and Lay Leaders coming from five (5) Conferences (NORWSECON, SIDC, NELBICON, SWLC & MASCON) under the East Visayas Jurisdictional Area of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, do hereby collectively expressed our sincerest concern over the devastating effect of natural and human induced disasters in our localities, in particular, and the entire Region 8 including Masbate, in general;

That, in this activity, we find ourselves with commonality in so far as experiencing the adverse and dehumanizing effect of various disasters to the lives, properties and livelihood of the people in this part of our country is concerned such as drought, typhoons, flashfloods, landslide, tsunami, earthquakes, red tide, infestations, fire and armed conflict, to name a few; Thus, a mockery to our environment!

While we focus on being equipped with knowledge, attitude and skills on Community-Based Disaster Management as an alternative over traditional ways of responding disasters in varied phases, we cannot spare from recognizing, as a result of deeper reflection, that irresponsible system of exploiting God-given natural resources, such as legalized Open-Pit Mining and Large-Scale Logging and corruption are among the primary causes of disasters. We believe that these are neither caused by caprices nor God’s will, but of human greed and selfishness!

While we respect the passive and apathetic attitude of some of our co-workers, majority of our local church members and people in the wider community on this issue and concern, we still believe and hope that they can act through an informed, principled decision and moral courage to rectify and get involved!

While we recognize the response of the government by legislating R.A.10121: otherwise known as the Philippine Disasters Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010,we must remain hopeful and vigilant for its honest and consistent implementation;

We, therefore, call on the Philippine government to:

SCRAP MINING ACT OF 1995!

STOP LARGE-SCALE LOGGING AND OTHER ANTI-PEOPLE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY DESTRUCTIVE POLICIES!