Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Taytay, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on the Laity of the bishops’ conference, urged Filipinos to to amplify the voice of the poor and the environment in next year’s national elections.
“Let us continue to speak up. The election is coming, let us vote for those politicians who care for the environment and not those who are only interested in their political survival,” said the prelate in a homily on Sunday, September 5.
Addressing the people of Palawan in the central Philippines, the prelate said the faithful must show unity in the coming elections like what they did during the plebiscite on the plan to divide the province into three smaller provinces.
Bishop Pabillo said the decision of the people of Palawan to remain as one province “is a stand for the environment.” He said “the environment will become the victim if we’ve allowed the proposed division of the province.”
The prelate noted that the observance of the Season of Creation this month should encourage the public to listen and speak “for those who cannot speak for themselves – the poor and the environment.”
“A lot of us rely on the environment to survive – fishermen, farmers, indigenous people …. These people, the poor, are the most affected if the environment is destroyed,” he said.
The prelate said tourists come to Palawan “not because of old structures or art but because of the beautiful environment.”
“Let us give the environment a voice against abuses,” he said.
The province of Palawan has been recognized as the “last ecological frontier” of the country because of its rich biodiversity and natural wonders.
The island still retains more than 50 percent of its original forest cover and harbors vast stretches of old-growth forests. Of its 1,489,626 total land area, 692,288 hectares are covered by forest.
The island province is a complex ecosystem that serves as a refuge to more than a hundred marine and many other indigenous species of flora and fauna.
