Cardinal leads the Fr. Neri Satur awards

To usher in the Earth Day Week celebration, His Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales leads the 2009 Father Neri Satur Award for Environmental Heroism. The Cardinal has stood as a strong symbol of caring for Mother Earth, underscoring the spirituality of protecting our common abode and warning us against abusing the blessings bestowed by our creator. The Cardinal has inspired the birth of ecology desks in parishes and the use of the pulpit as an avenue to underscore a right to life by people affected by the damaging effects to environment of climate change. It is in his diocese in Mindanao where he staunchly defends the forests and calls to act on the protection of our God-given home.

We congratulate the Steering Committee that annually selects the Father Neri Satur Awardees, initiated and chaired by Former Senator Heherson T. Alvarez, Earthsavers’ founder and now Presidential Adviser on Global Warming and Climate Change. He has wisely harnessed the martyrdom of Father Neri Satur as a beacon for generating awareness and eliciting the will to conserve and defend Mother Earth. For the forthcoming Earth Day Week, as proclaimed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, several multisectoral activities showcase the role of media and the arts in forging a sense of unity so crucial in overcoming environmental degradation.

For the category on individuals and institutions implementing various action programs to help mitigate climate change, the awardees are Bishop Julio Labayen for Adopt-a-Mountain Program; City Government of Muntinlupa for its Public Market with the Best Solid and Water Waste Management Programs; Talavera National High School of Nueva Ecija for its Mini Hydro Power Invention. For the category on International Support for Climate Change, the awardee is GTZ German Technical Cooperation, for its valuable assistance in funding and providing technical assistance to projects that have direct impact on the Philippines. The award for the category on Green Energy Initiatives for a reduction of dependence on fossil fuels is shared by Northwind Power Development Corp. (Green Energy Sector); Green Architecture Movement/United Architects of the Philippines (Green Building Sector); Green Renewable Independent Power Producer Foundation Inc. (GRIPP, Electric Jeepney for Transport Sector); Benson Industries (Zero Waste Recycling of Machine Oil). The Eco-Cultural Communications sector award is shared by the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP), for Visual Arts; Joey Ayala, for Music, Kidlat Tahimik for eco-film documentation for indigenous peoples. Fr. Neri Satur Special Citation for Media and Culture recognizes talents through their respective TV and radio programs that rally the public to respond to the urgent call to conserve and protect the environment. The awardees in this category are Francis Magalona (posthumous award as an Eco-Friendly Artist, for his “BASURAP”, Timmy Cruz for “Panata sa Kalikasan”, Kim Atienza of ABS-CBN Channel 2 for “Matang Lawin”; Richard Gutierrez of GMA-7 for “Full Force Nature”, Angelo Palmones of dzMM for “Takbo Para sa Kalikasan”, Clement Bautista for dzRII Environmental Reporting.

Through the years, the Earthsavers Movement has harvested its roster of environmental heroes. In the past, other church leaders who have fought for the cause of indigenous peoples and who cared for the forests and promoted environmental education are Bontoc Bishop Francisco Claver, Dipolog Bishop Jose Manguiran, Nueva Vizcaya Bishop Ramon Villena, Fr. Ben Beltran, SVD; Fr. Jet Villarin and Fr. James B. Reuter, S.J., Fr. John Couvreur, CICM; Sr. Aida Velasquez, Sr. Luz Emmanuel. Eco-friendly business firms who have received the awards in the past are Unilever, SM group, MAPECON, Management Association of the Philippines (MAP); scientists Dr. Palaypay and Buddy Lava; artists like Carlo Caparas, Tomas Ongoco; journalists like Jerry Esplanada and Katherine Adraneda; fisherman Dodong Amoin; DENR employees Raul Zapatos and Ric Serrano and many more that have followed the Neri Satur path of loving Mother Earth.

We congratulate this year’s awardees! Together with all the past awardees, they collectively build the foundation for a strong movement linked to global action, significant at this time that an agreement must be forged with all nations for survival.

Do not miss the airing of the Ecology Mass twinned with the Fr. Neri Satur Awarding Ceremonies during Sining Gising to be telecast on NBN 4 this Sunday, hosted by Ramon Magsaysay arts awardee for Public Service, Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, Executive Director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). The inspiring efforts of the awardees should strengthen an earth-saving army to revive the health, beauty and bounty of our ailing Mother Earth.

Bravo to all! It is our civic duty to participate in the many nationwide Earth Day events organized all over the country. Let us make Earth Day Week and every week a way of thinking globally and acting locally!