**4. Discussion**

Vera Files, an independent news organization in the Philippines, featured a story on the continuing ill-effects that the people of Marinduque suffer from as a result of the disastrous spilling of the mine tailings into the Boac River in 1996. Twenty-three years later, the people are still trying to rebuild their lives (Dizon 2019), while the Boac River remains biologically unable to sustain life (DENR 2020). Without adequate support from the local and national governments to rehabilitate the poisoned land and waters, it would be up to the people in Marinduque to find ways to help one another. Against this backdrop, MaCEC drafted its members' mandate to be environmental stewards.

In its 25th year of existence, MaCEC demonstrates how a local, faith-based organization can effectively respond to the risks and challenges of living in a place where natural and human-induced disasters occur. While it started as a social action environmental arm of the local Church, which supported fisherfolks who suffered from surface dumping of mine tailings into their traditional fishing areas, it expanded into a significant partner of local and national organizations that oppose large-scale mining operations in the country. At present, MaCEC provides the bulk of environmental advocacy in the province of Marinduque by its work on climate emergency mitigation and response, disaster management, environmental justice, and care. In the various campaigns, advocacy work, and mobilizations, MaCEC's core environmental advocacy framework flows from three program components: ecological literacy, ecological actions, and ecological ethics. Literacy and steps lead to public awareness and knowledge; literacy and ethics produce socio-environmental values and ethics and actions that result in desired environmental behavior changes in its members. It hopes to do the same in the greater public.

MaCEC operations envisioned a clean, bountiful, and life-giving environment in the Island Province of Marinduque, which will benefit the present and future generations. In fulfilling this vision, it adheres to democratic processes, collective actions, the inspiration of Gospel values, and the Social Doctrine of the Church (MaCEC 2021). The Social Doctrine of the Church includes the CBCP pastoral letters that are typically read on Sunday services for the Catholic community.

MaCEC's initial understanding of environmental stewardship is a blend of the Catholic bishops' view of stewardship as resource managemen<sup>t</sup> for the future generations of *Marinduquenos* and the members' awareness of the responsibility of rehabilitating the poisoned waters and land of the province and restoring the livelihood of those who were greatly affected by environmental disasters. The first logo of MaCEC in Figure 2 reflects this view of stewardship.

**Figure 2.** The original logo of MaCEC.

The older logo features an oversized pair of hands that holds the entire province, particularly rivers, trees, mountains, and cows. The natural world is now under the care of humans, the *Marinduquenos*. The disembodied hands accentuate the outsize responsibility of MaCEC to aid, support, and care.

Over time, the notion of stewardship expanded to include environmental justice. According to the 2021 Press Release of the organization, in 2003, Bishop Jose Oliveros of the Diocese of Boac headed the first Diocesan Synod that led to the ratification of decrees that became the pillars for the local Church in Marinduque. Part of the document included *Katarungan* or Justice. MaCEC expanded its mission to have "a firm stance on the explicit objection over any forms of large-scale mining and other similar industries and activities that can cause serious effects on the environment and ecology of the province" (MaCEC 2021).

MaCEC has since launched massive campaigns and advocacies on the environment, climate justice, and disaster risks following the spirit of social justice and guided by the local Catholic Church, specifically, its mission of being the "Church of the Poor". It successfully lobbied at the *Sangguniang Panlalawigan* or the Provincial Assembly to declare a 50-year large-scale mining moratorium in the entire island through legislative enactments by the *Sangguniang Panlalawigan*. It also successfully lobbied to remove the San Antonio Copper Project from the national government's list of priority mining areas (Magalang 2010, p. 73).

MaCEC began as a Basic Ecclesial Community that grew stronger over time. The BEC members had reached a more sophisticated level of conscientization and organizing. They wanted to address more fundamental issues confronting their precarious life like the security of land/housing tenure and disaster risk engaging the community (Holden et al. 2017, p. 41). Over the years, long-time members have begun to deepen their ecological consciousness, as evident in expanding their environmental education courses to include the rights of nature, *Kalayaan ng Kalikasan* (freedom of nature), and, following Pope Francis, care for our common home, Earth.

In the Philippines, Christianity came through colonization. This sobering truth has led to more disquieting reflections in recent years on the many ways religion sustains epistemic violence by those in power. The presence of Christianity in the Philippines is always problematic from a postcolonial perspective. The Philippine Catholic Church has tried to address this problem. Karl Gaspar cited the 2010 Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples' statement that essentially asks for forgiveness from indigenous peoples for the "historical wounds" that were inflicted for the time when "[the Church] entered indigenous communities from a position of power, indifferent to their struggles and pains. We ask forgiveness for moments when we taught Christianity as a religion robed with colonial cultural superiority, instead of sharing it as a religion that calls for a relationship with God and a way of life" (Gaspar 2010). Like the other pastoral letters or messages, the concrete calls to action are localized through the endeavors that directly impact vulnerable communities, such as MaCEC.

#### *4.1. The Three Dimensions of Ecological Care*

In 2017, MaCEC updated its logo that captured the essence of the organization. MaCEC patterns the evaluation of the stages of village chapters, from formation to maturity, after the four stages of development of a butterfly, namely: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The butterfly hovering above the heart-shaped Marinduque is a symbol in the official logo of MaCEC. Figure 3 presents the ecological ethic of care and its three features.

**Figure 3.** The conceptual framework of ecological care.

The new organization logo adopted in 2017 has some elements: The green heart in the blue circle symbolizes the island province, the home of all those living in its ecological communities. The six rays of the sun represent the six towns where local chapters are located and reflect light and hope to the members and all Marinduque, especially the poor, living in the present and the future. Circling white and blue colors refer to the cleanliness and clarity of its ecological vision and mission for caring and protecting God's creation, based on the principles of social justice. The butterfly resting on a green stem is likened to the clean, healthy, and bountiful ecosystem and life support that reminds the organization of its mandate to care for God's creations and of the challenge to protect, cultivate, and restore the damaged ecosystem to health.

The parallelism between the butterfly and MaCEC cannot be more evident. As the pupa emerges from the cocoon, it faces several challenges that it must overcome to progress into an adult butterfly. The butterfly lives precariously and, like the pupa, must learn to navigate the world it inhabits to be healthy enough to lay eggs. Additionally, the cycle continues.

The use of nature imagery to describe the journey of the village chapters manifests the full ecological consciousness of the members that displaces human superiority and affirms the value of the natural process. Like fireflies, they are reflections of a healthy ecosystem for the members. Robyn Eckersley (1992) puts the basic tenets of ecocentrism based on an ecologically informed philosophy of internal relatedness. All organisms are not simply interrelated with their environment but are also constituted by those environmental interrelationships. Like the butterfly, the life cycle of village chapters undergoes the organic process towards maturity.

While most of the work that MaCEC is doing is gardening, tree-planting, and cultivating land to be a viable source of food for its members and the people of Marinduque in general, MaCEC did not use the image of a gardener or a resource managemen<sup>t</sup> officer to describe what it does. From an ecocentric perspective, singling out only our unique attributes as a basis of our exclusive moral considerability is simply human chauvinism that conveniently fails to recognize the unique characteristics of other life forms. The use of nature imagery to capture what the organization, at its core, does, is ecocentric.

#### *4.2. To Care Is to Be Human in the Complex Web of Creation*

For MaCEC members, the cultural values are *pagtutulungan* (service to one another), *pakikiisa* (solidarity), and *pananampalataya* (faith). Humans undoubtedly do activities above, but they do not necessarily point to human exceptionalism or superiority. The lived experiences of the MaCEC members gave rise to the cultural values that guide their work and reflect their mission.

*Pagtutulungan* or service to others. Several Filipino scholars point to *pagtutulungan* or service to others as a Filipino value akin to a similar value, *Bayanihan*. For Eade and Su (2018, p. 334), *Bayanihan* is the Filipino principle of mutual effort. *Bayanihan* was a term that originated in farming communities. It worked within the rhythm of harvests and the weather and was based upon common expectations, benefits, and trust (Eade and Su 2018, p. 342). *Bayanihan* is translated to helping each other in a time of crisis (Soriano et al. 2021, p. 91). In the studies cited above, *Bayanihan* reveals uneven power dynamics. The more desperate for help and assistance become dependent on the dole-outs of those who control the goods and services, often local and national leaders, aid and gran<sup>t</sup> agencies, and wealthy individuals in the wake of the devastating damage due to typhoon Haiyan in 2013 (Eade and Su 2018, p. 334). *Bayanihan* is especially important amongs<sup>t</sup> poor communities lacking other forms of capital (Jocson and Ceballo 2020). In the context of digital labor in the platform economy, those who dispense advice become social media influencers who attract desperate subscribers eager to participate in a largely unregulated industry (Soriano et al. 2021).

*Pagtutulungan,* literally translated to "helping one another", points to a more egalitarian relationship among participants, who are either the donor or recipient and vice versa. *Pagtutulungan* underscores the members' affinity to each other as all of them experienced the ill effects of various environmental disasters in one form or the other. Each of them faces the dangers and risks together. Based on the interviews and documents review, abandoned and unmaintained mine structures, including the open pit and dams of the closed mining site, are a source of disaster risks in the entire province. MaCEC leaders pointed to interconnected environmental and climate change risks for the island province, mainly coastal and riverside communities. While MaCEC members believe that people and communities in the island province can recover, the process takes time. *Pagtutulungan* highlights the eco-anxieties (McCarroll 2020) that environmental activists feel due to the seemingly slow-moving pace of ecological rehabilitation while living under the constant threat of *panganib* or danger. However, helping one another overcome despair is one of the ways that help sustain their energy and commitment.

*Pagtutulungan* parallels the dynamics in the ecosystems of the planet. Ecologists point to the mutual interdependence at play because the environment is both dynamic and diverse, ecologists recognize that there is no single set of ecological attributes or strategies that make an organism "the best". All living populations and species continuously change in response to pressures from other organisms and variability in Earth's geology and climate. Over time, this dance of evolving interactions has produced a fantastic array of organisms that depend upon and compete across the surface of the planet (Malmstrom 2010, p. 88).

*Pakikiisa* or solidarity. *Pakikiisa* or solidarity is a common feature in Philippine social movements that address social and political inequalities in society. At the community level, women workers in the informal economy, when organized and galvanized through collective forms of action in peri-urban areas stricken by disasters related to climate change, produce and sustainable ways of surviving and adapting (Ofreneo and Hega 2016, p. 180). There is a strong link between poverty and environmental degradation in the climate crisis, making poor people more vulnerable to climate-change-related disasters (Holden et al. 2017, p. 8). *Pakikiisa* or solidarity occurs when there are shared experiences among the actors, such as the case of women workers above and the members of MaCEC.

*Pakikiisa* or solidarity highlights relational ethics more than the individualistic ethics that have long governed how we relate to other people. In the ecological sense, solidarity "means a relationship of care and concern for the Other. The Other can be fellow human beings and the natural environment. We should correct the tendency to see humans as ontologically separate and above nature" (Jennings 2015, p. 6). Thompson et. al echo the same sentiment:

"When we come together to study environmental issues and concerns and work together to find viable and sustainable solutions to the problem, we can support one another. What will emerge from the connection and support is an ecological ethic of solidarity, which mirrors the interconnectivity and reciprocal interdependence of beings in the world" (Thompson et al. 2011, p. 144).

The coming together to support each other is evident in MaCEC's core values of environmental advocacy, environmental literacy, and environmental education towards what they termed "ecological care".

Households, particularly in riverside barangays, use bamboo materials for disaster preparedness as a native life raft (*timbulan ng buhay*) like the image above in Figure 4. *Timbulan* or a bamboo raft is a lifesaving device that you hold onto when you are in the middle of the sea, ocean, lake, or river.

*Pakikiisa* resonates with what Jennings and Gwiazdon call "The Principle of Solidarity Respect and Equity" that should be pursued with a recognition of the limits of everyone's ability to determine the conditions of their own lives and our mutual interdependency and reliance on outside support, care, and assistance. The notion of solidarity and interdependence applies in a social context among individuals and groups. Still, it applies with equal importance and resonance in an ecological context, between human and biotic communities (Jennings and Gwiazdon 2021, p. 32).

*Pananampalataya* or faith. The spiritual aspect of the work of MaCEC is a crucial part of the organization's identity. *Pananampalataya*, or faith for MaCEC members, informs and motivates them to engage in their work as environmental stewards actively and sustains them in the protracted struggle to obtain justice from the Marcopper Mining Corporation. Rooted in their beginnings as a small Basic Ecclesial Community, MaCEC developed a more comprehensive program to share the Word of God to village chapters. The program, *Hangkaan at Bahaginan ng Pamayanang Kristiyano sa Salita ng Diyos* (Sharing of the Word of God among Christian Communities) helps spread the Word of God.

In the development of course modules, the knowledge of priests and pastoral workers, and seminarians of the diocese were pooled together, according to the members. The organization tapped local facilitators and resource persons to implement the integrated formation and skills development, including relevant modules in environmental justice and stewardship. Until recently, this combined formation is being applied and updated by the MACEC to cover timely issues. The ecological dimension of the program aims to develop environmental consciousness and values by eliciting actions from the members themselves that will encourage sustained commitment. Activities were about community organizing and holding a series and continuing education using modules such as understanding spiritual ecology and links to climate change, mining, health (as a response to the pandemic), and digital security related to the proliferation of misinformation and "fake news" in social media.

**Figure 4.** A sample of the bamboo raft used by families. Photo by the author.

Hand and Crowe (2012, p. 11) observe that in the US, greater exposure to church culture (through attendance), greater commitment to personal piety (through prayer), and a greater commitment to one's denominational identity does not generally increase proenvironmental beliefs and behavior. For Ramon Echica (2010, pp. 44–45), the devotional practices heavily promoted by the Catholic Church in the Philippines tend to focus on the "other-worldly" concerns and are apolitical. Both studies sugges<sup>t</sup> that without widespread support from the public, including local government, non-governmen<sup>t</sup> organizations, and other citizen-driven ecological movements, religiosity alone is not enough to elicit behavioral changes towards environmental action. MACEC has proved that faith and religiosity must intertwine with culture and environmentalism to effect meaningful and sustainable social transformation.

## *4.3. Greening the Moriones Festival*

Marinduque is known for its Holy Week event, the *Moriones* festival. The original ritual would have male volunteers from the poorest *barrios* in Marinduque wear the costume of Roman soldiers and put on elaborate masks for one week to depict the *morions* who chased the Roman soldier, Longinus. In the Lenten rituals, Longinus was the first Roman soldier who converted to Christianity when he witnessed the death of Jesus on the cross (Peterson 2007). According to Peterson, the men chose to enact *morions* as a response to a *panata* (vow) to purge their sins. The *morion* mask, a symbol of repentance during the Holy Week, becomes a symbol for the MaCEC and its members. It reminds them of the challenges of being faithful to God (Peterson 2007, p. 311).

The Boac river, a victim of the mine tailings disaster, silently witnesses the Holy Week events as they unfold beside it. The presence, and the symbolic participation of the river, added to the lamentation of the members of MaCEC. Nonetheless, they managed to make the river into an active participant. According to the members, the *Moriones* Festival becomes a venue for commemorating the mine tailings spills on 24 March 1996 through Earth Day celebration, tree planting, Lenten recollection, and other environmental advocacy activities. Reflections of the members focus on the responsibility, rooted in faith, to be stewards of the environment, nature, and creation.

## **5. Conclusions: Ecological Care beyond Anthropocentrism**

The heart-shaped island province of Marinduque is home to the members of MaCEC. In Filipino, the word *tahanan* refers to home. Its root word is *tahan* (hush). It evokes a mother rocking her fussy, crying baby to calm down and sleep. It pulls forth the original meaning of ecology, *Oikos*, a Greek word for home. Many Filipinos regard the home as the safest place as it evokes the warm embrace of a mother. Filipino psychologists have attempted to seek what they call cognitive and affective dimensions of biodiversity, which, according to them, have been lacking in many social and scientific studies on biodiversity conservation (Tan Siy 2008). In a study involving Filipino farmers and fisherfolks living on the banks of ecologically vulnerable Taal Lake in the southern part of Manila, Tan Siy claims that those who lived by the banks of the lake were more open and receptive to its rehabilitation and care. The results of this study highlighted the significant role people's affective bonds placed on the conservation and the protection of the lake. Moreover, the quality of respondents' answers was a function of their proximity to and dependence on the lake (Tan Siy 2008, p. 98).

Similarly, the members of MaCEC are deeply committed to their environmentalism, living as they do in a disaster-prone area and having experienced environmental disasters brought about by natural hazards and extractive industries. Their environmentalism developed into a community consciousness that regards members as thoroughly embedded in their ecological communities. Such is akin to Eckersley's (1992) ecocentric approach to environmentalism that views creations as formed by ecological interrelatedness.

Ecological care's dimensions of *pagtutulungan* (service to one another), *pakikiisa* (solidarity), and *pananampalataya* (faith) demonstrate its breadth and depth that includes "a recognition of systemic interdependence that means recognizing that self is deeply related to other, not just other human selves, but the natural world (water, air, other species) that impact our lives and whose lives and actions profoundly impact processes" (Bradbury 2003, p. 211).

Reflecting on the notion of ecological care of the members of MaCEC, we can appreciate this view of care as Christian praxis. Praxis refers to reflecting and acting upon and within the world to transform it. McFague (1997) challenges Christians to extend the Christian praxis to nature. Christian praxis is grounded in what Leonardo Boff calls "social ecology, the ways that human social and economic systems interact with the natural ecosystems" (Boff 1995, p. 88). This ecology underscores that whatever onslaught to the poor affects the natural world and vice versa.

Through the various stages of development, faith-based communities of environmental stewards actively participate in determining their role in ecological care and stewardship and transforming structures that cause inequalities. As MaCEC members subscribe to service to *Simbahan ng mga dukha* (Church of the Poor) and *likas-kayang pag-unlad* (sustainable development), the organization exemplifies a practical application of the ecological liberation theology, as advanced in Holden et al. (2017).

While the praxis of MaCEC members echoes that of liberation theology, it arises from their self-understanding of faith intertwining with service. According to the MaCEC members, the extended hands of Jesus on the cross signify service and solidarity; the hands of Jesus are reaching out to help. According to the organization and its members, the cross symbolizes the Christian faith in which all actions on ecological care are rooted. The organization's vision aptly reflects the values of service, solidarity, and faith ingrained in the local culture. In turn, these values contribute to the discourse McCarroll (2020) raises towards a re-imagining of ecological care that extends beyond anthropocentrism without losing the focus on social and environmental justice. Ecological care beyond anthropocentrism encompasses human activities that attend to the needs of the ecological community, promote its wellbeing and health, and work for the flourishing of all members of the ecological community. Those who extend ecological care beyond anthropocentrism recognize that ecosystems thrive and flourish when suitable conditions are present for everyone, including humans to be healthy. The research supports the continuing discussions on the many ways religion's commitment to ecological care reveals its promising potential, primarily the pro-environmental actions of faith-based communities.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.C.P.; methodology, R.B.M.Q.; formal analysis, J.C.P. and R.B.M.Q.; investigation, J.C.P. and R.B.M.Q.; resources, J.C.P. and R.B.M.Q.; data curation, writing— original draft preparation, J.C.P.; writing—review and editing, R.B.M.Q. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Written informed consent has been obtained from all subjects involved in this study.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors acknowledge the support of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Asian Cultures and Theologies (IASACT) Program of the United Board for Christian Higher Education (UBCHEA) and the Chung Chi Divinity College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. We acknowledge the support of the leaders and members of Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MaCEC). We are grateful to our anonymous peer reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments that made the manuscript better and richer.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
