A Filipino Catholic priest is one of this year’s recipients of the international Goldman Environmental Prize Award.
Father Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines National Secretariat for Social Action (CBCP-NASSA), is only the second Filipino to receive such an award, the first being Von Hernandez, whose battle against waste incineration was recognized in 2003.
Gariguez and five other “environment heroes” from around the world received their award last April 16, during a ceremony held at the San Francisco Opera House in the United States.
In his acceptance speech, Gariguez offered the recognition to the Mangyan indigenous people of Mindoro whose care for the Earth inspired him in his work.
“For them nature is likened to a womb that sustains us with life. Badang, a Mangyan leader that went with me for the hunger strike, was ready to die to save the watershed threatened by mining. For her, once the forest is destroyed, we too will perish. I come to understand that what is at stake in the campaign is the survival of the earth ecology, of which we are merely a part,” he said.
“It is my conviction that protecting the rights of the poor should take precedence over corporate greed. In the same manner, genuine development should prioritize the need to ensure ecological sustainability over market profitability. We should never sacrifice people and the environment for short-term benefit of the few,” added Gariguez.
Father Edu, through his grass¬roots movement called Alliance Against Mining (ALAMIN), led Mindoro residents, civil society groups, church leaders, and indigenous people in numerous protests against a large-scale nickel mine on the Mindoro island.
Although not opposed to mining per se, the priest believes measures to safeguard the environment, protect indigenous communities rights, and ensure a fair distribution of economic benefits must be ensured.
The Goldman Prize annually honors grassroots environmental heroes from the six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, South, and Central America for their sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk.
The Prize also seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.
Each winner received an award of $150,000, the largest award in the world for grassroots environmentalists.