05/12/2025
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ผ๐: ๐ผ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ค๐ฃ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ค๐ฃ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ก๐๐จ, ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ค๐จ๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ
(๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ, ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ ๐๐ข๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ค๐ฐ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด.)
We, the Youth of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, raise our collective voice in deep concern over the worsening state of the environment in the Philippines, and its guardians and champions.
Across the Philippines, forests are disappearing at alarming rates; rivers and coastal waters are polluted with plastics and industrial and agricultural waste, mountains are stripped bare or leveled by mining and quarrying, and biodiversity โ from coral reefs to endemic species โ is under unprecedented threat. Unsustainable urbanization, logging and agricultural practices have led to soil degradation, landslides and flooding, while climate change has brought stronger typhoons, prolonged droughts and rising sea levels. These are phenomena that disproportionately affect rural, coastal and Indigenous communities who rely on the land and waters for survival.
Across these threatened landscapes, it is our environmental defenders โ especially indigenous peoples (IPs), farmers, fisherfolk and grassroots advocates โ who stand at the frontlines of resistance. Their daily lives are marked not only by the struggle to protect their ancestral lands, rivers and forests, but also by the constant threat of harassment, red-tagging, displacement and violence. Many indigenous communities have safeguarded their territories for generations, practicing sustainable stewardship long before modern laws existed, yet they are often the first to suffer when destructive projects advance, many without the consent of the communities. Despite limited resources and overwhelming risks, these defenders persist with courage, rooted in deep cultural, spiritual and communal ties to the land. Their commitment is a testament to the truth that defending the environment is not merely activism, but an act of survival, an assertion of identity, and a love for future generations.
These crises are a moral challenge: The degradation of Creation is inseparable from the degradation of human life.
In Zambales, which hosted our recent YIFI Leadersโ Roundtable Discussion on Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 2025, irresponsible nickel mining and coastal dredging continue to ravage mountains, rivers, forests and communities. Toxic runoff, siltation, coastal erosion and deforestation threaten livelihoods, food security and biodiversity, while token assistance and superficial consultations silence the voices of IPs and vulnerable communities.
In Panay, where the eventโs speaker on the environmental situation comes from, the Jalaur Mega Dam threatens to destroy the ancestral lands, rivers, forests and traditional livelihoods of the Tumandok people. In their courageous resistance to displacement and environmental destruction, nine Tumandok leaders were killed on Dec. 30, 2020, in what has been widely condemned as a massacre. While justice has yet to be served, the dam is set to operate and put homes, lands and culture at imminent risk.
The struggles in Panay and Zambales mirror the broader reality across the Philippines: Profit is prioritized over people and the environment. They both show that development imposed without justice devastates both people and the environment.
Furthermore, these crises are not driven by local interests alone. They are deeply connected to the global economic order, one in which developed countries and multinational corporations benefit from the extraction of resources from the Global South while outsourcing environmental destruction and climate impacts onto vulnerable nations like ours. The demand for minerals, agricultural commodities and cheap labor in wealthy nations fuels large-scale mining, monocrop plantations, reclamation projects and fossil fuel expansion in the Philippines. Corporations headquartered abroad, along with their local partners, frequently profit from these extractive ventures while communities at home bear the brunt of deforestation, pollution, cultural erasure and displacement. Meanwhile, the historical emissions of industrialized nations continue to drive a climate crisis that disproportionately harms countries least responsible for it. This global complicity reveals that our people and ecosystems are sacrificed to sustain unsustainable consumption and profit elsewhere.
We call on our fellow Filipinos to open their eyes to these injustices โ in Zambales, Panay and beyond โ and to defend the rights of indigenous cultural communities whose stewardship of land predates even our sense of nation. We urge government leaders, corporations and civic institutions to uphold true development: one that protects biodiversity, preserves watersheds and ancestral lands, and safeguards the lives and livelihoods of local communities. We urge them to demonstrate their commitment by becoming vocal champions of environmental protection and by using their authority to mandate or enact policies and ordinances that ensure the long-term well-being of these communities and the landscapes they depend on.
True development can never arise from the devastation of people and planet. Environmental destruction, forced displacement and violence against communities are moral crises demanding courage, solidarity and collective action. As prophetic voices, YIFI members pledge ourselves to the continued work of ecological justice โ amplifying the voices of affected communities, promoting sustainable and people-centered alternatives, and caring for Godโs Creation with integrity and hope.
For God, for our people, and for our common home.
Layout: Nonie Boy Campos, Diocese of Iloilo
