“And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it(Genesis 2:15).”

The world is inhabited by the Sacred.  All created beings are a sign and a revelation of the Creator who leaves an imprint everywhere.  This is the theology of St. Bonaventure, following the experience of St. Francis.  To purposely destroy any aspect of creation is to deface the image of Christ present in all of creation.  Christ suffers not only when people are denied of their rights and exploited but when seas, rivers and forests are desecrated.  When creation is perceived as sacramental, manifesting and leading us to God, our relationship with others is also challenged to move from one of dominance and power to one of reverence and respect.

The Theology of the sacredness of creation is not exclusive to Christians and other major religions.  When it comes to respecting all that is in creation, the Indigenous Peoples have something to teach us, a deeper reflection on caring for mother earth.  In the Philippine context, long before the coming of Christianity, the IPs primitive notion of creation goes beyond theology.  They have what some theologians called ecological spirituality.  They believe that everything around us is sacred or reflects the sacredness of the Ultimate Being  who creates.

The Subanens, the Indigenous People living in the hinterlands of Zamboanga Peninsula, Philippines, believe that the mountains where they live is sacred because for them it is where they make contact with the deities. 

The Mount Canatuan in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, one of those grandiose mountains in the peninsula, is revered by the descendants of Apu Manglang as their sacred mountain.  According to the Subanens in the area, the spirits made a peace pact with their ancestor, Apu Manglang in Mt. Canatuan, and from that time on, Mt. Canatuan is regarded as sacred and their place of worship.  But that was before the coming of transnational mining company, Toronto Ventures Inc. Resource Development (TVIRD).

Mt. Canatuan now is not as grandiose as it was during the time of Apu Manglang.  A large-scale mining company coming from Canada, TVIRD, leveled off and desecrates Mt. Canatuan.

With TVIRDs presence in Mt. Canatuan, the Subanens were denied of their right to worship and communicate with the spirits.

It’s a shame that this “Christian” mining company have practically robbed the Subanens of what is sacred to them. 

In his message during the World Peace Day last January 1, 1990, Peace with God the Creator, peace with all Creation, Pope John Paul II challenges that “Christians, in particular realize that their duty towards nature and creation are an essential part of their faith”.

God’s ownership of the world urges us to consider not only social justice, i.e just relations between people, but also ecological justice, meaning just relations between human beings, other than creatures and with the earth itself.  Creation is now understood as a community of beings interconnected with each other and with the triune God.  Ecological integrity is an essential part of all faith traditions and is an important issue around which dialogue, collaboration and mutual understanding can be protected.