MALACAÑANG HONORS HEROES OF THE ENVIRONMENT
MANILA, APRIL 21, 2008 (STAR) By Paolo Romero - Malacañang led yesterday the awarding of six individuals and groups who have led the cause in protecting the environment in their respective communities and advocacies.Presidential Management Staff chief Secretary Cerge Remonde, representing President Arroyo, joined other environmentalists, including former senator and environment secretary Heherson Alvarez in conferring the Father Neri Satur Awards for Environmental Heroism at the NBN-4 complex following a special Ecology Mass to usher the week-long global observance of Earth Day.
Alvarez described the awardees as “champions of the environment.”
“This (awards) is timely in light of the global food problem caused by adverse changes in the environment because of man’s abuse,” Remonde said. “You don’t have to change the world to become heroes in protecting the environment.”
Dipolog Bishop Jose Manguiran, one of this year’s awardees, was nominated by former Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president, Archbishop Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla, for being a true “earthsaver and a farmer,” advocating responsible mining.
Cagayan Bishop Diosdado Talamayan nominated Nueva Vizcaya Bishop Ramon Villena for advancing the rights of indigenous people while Fr. John Couvreur, CICM, of the Parish of Saint John Evangelist in Quirino, Isabela and who also chairs the Ecology Desk of the diocese, was nominated by Laoag Bishop Sergio Utleg for running after illegal loggers and timber poachers in his hometown.
Ecology-friendly business firm SM Group of Companies, through SM vice chair Tessie Sy, has been selected for innovative eco-programs such as SM Waste Markets, SM Greenbags, participation in the Earth Hour and the free showing of the documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth,” in partnership with the Earth Savers Movement.
Kongreso ng Komiks chairman, film and television director Carlo J. Caparas is being recognized for media advocacy and for partnering with the Earthsavers Movement and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in holding a comics competition on climate change and the United Nations-Millennium Development Goals.
Scientist-artist-educator Prof. Tomas Ongoco, president of the Quezon City Academy, will also be honored for environmental education. His book, “Ambon sa Tagtuyot,” contains the popularization of scientific data through drama and poems, including the ills of smoking and a unique “Balagtasan on Climate Change.”
Ongoco has also done the Filipino translation of the film “An Inconvenient Truth” by former US Vice President Al Gore, a colleague of Alvarez in the Global Parliamentarians for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE).
Alvarez earlier asked Gore’s permission to translate his film into Filipino and several local dialects for wider dissemination and understanding within our country.
Mrs. Arroyo earlier issued Presidential Proclamation No. 1276, calling on the public to celebrate Earth Day by doing their share for the protection of the environment, especially now that the world is experiencing a food and rice crisis brought about by global warming and climate change.
The award, given during the worldwide observance of Earth Day every April 22, has been institutionalized by the EarthSavers Movement to posthumously honor the martyrdom of Satur, who lost his life in 1991 fighting illegal loggers and protecting the forests of Bukidnon.
As a deputized forest ranger, Satur confiscated truckloads of timber being brought down from the mountains of Bukidnon, earning the ire of illegal loggers. He and his supporters – backed by then Bukidnon Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, himself a “green priest” – intercepted these trucks and worked for the arrest of illegal loggers.
On Oct. 14, 1991, three men, allegedly hired by the illegal loggers he angered, killed Satur. His head was smashed by a rifle’s butt. Later, he was shot pointblank with a shotgun.
Last year’s awardees were Archbishop Francisco Claver of the CBCP; the Management Association of the Philippines’ Environment Committee chaired by Dr. Cora Claudio; print journalists Jerry Esplanada of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Katherine Adraneda of The Philippine STAR; and eco-artist Lou Bonnevie.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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