Religious leader and environmentalist, development worker for the Church of the Poor
Knownfor
Ecospirituality, Agroecology, Integral Development, Climate Emergency, Land Rights, Renewable and Clean Energy, Rights of Nature, Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Campaign vs Mining & Extractive Industry
Edwin Gariguez is a Filipino religious leader and environmentalist. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2012, for his voicing of protests on behalf of indigenous communities against large scale mining projects in the Philippines.[1] Edwin Gariguez was the former executive secretary of National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA), the humanitarian, advocacy and social development arm of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
Fr Gariguez was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on April 1, 1993, committing himself to serve in the local Church of Calapan in Oriental Mindoro. Along with the challenge of pursuing the agenda for being Church of the Poor, he led the program for the major sectoral block of disadvantaged peasantry by organizing Peasant Empowerment and Advocacy Network (Peasant-Net), a provincial federation of poor farmers.
From 1998 to 2000, he took part in the campaign for transformative politics by accepting the position of executive secretary to the municipal mayor of Victoria, Oriental Mindoro.
After his tenure in the local government, he worked full-time for the Mangyan Mission, a Church-based NGO promoting the rights of the indigenous communities. As Advocacy Officer for the Mangyan Mission he ran campaign programs, and empowered leaders and IP communities to take action and effect collaborative partnerships to address critical issues affecting them, particularly their security for ancestral domain claim, and in promoting participatory and self-determined development programs for the Mangyan indigenous communities. He was also engaged establishing linkages with other partner-organizations, on the national and international level to protect the rights of the indigenous peoples.
Environmental Campaign
With the aggressive promotion of mining in the Philippines, he was challenged to work with the indigenous communities in pursuing their right to self-determination and in ensuring that their rights are respected as provided in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997. Part of this campaign is to oppose the incursion of transnational mining companies to the ancestral lands of the indigenous peoples and in critical ecosystems. Large-scale mining, specifically the proposed Mindoro Nickel Project of Intex Resources, threatens the very survival of the indigenous peoples because a big part of the mining tenement overlaps with the ancestral domains of Alangan and Tadyawan tribes.[2]
At the national level, Fr Gariguez is one of the convenors and current member of the Council of Leaders of Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), a country-wide coalition of organizations and individuals from mining-affected communities, NGOs, POs, Church-based organizations and academic institutions that was formed in 2004. ATM serves as a watchdog that actively engages and challenges the Government, international finance corporations, transnational mining corporations, and other key players to expose their wrongdoings and failures of laws and policies in the mining industry.[3]
His engagement in addressing mining-related issues and campaigns is extensive. He is one of the founding members of ALAMIN (Alyansa Laban sa Mina), a provincial alliance of church, local government and civil society organizations in the island of Mindoro that waged a decade of sustained advocacy to protect the rights of the Indigenous Peoples and peasant communities to be impacted by extractive industry.[4]
In November 2009, Fr Gariguez, together with 25 members of ALAMIN launched a hunger strike before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to protest the flawed and questionable issuance of Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) to the Norwegian mining company.[5] And this effort to pressure the national government was successful and further investigation of the anomalous ECC was ordered to be conducted on the ground.[6]
The arena of struggle for anti-mining campaign relies not only on the strength of local victories. Since the issue and the new hierarchy of power have assumed global character, the campaign necessarily has to assume global engagement. To this end, Fr Gariguez embarked on several international lobbying and advocacy campaigns in Oslo, London and other parts of Europe.[7]
In October 2011, Gariguez participated on policy and performance standard review of World Bank and International Finance Corporation in October 2010, wherein ALAMIN's experience on asserting free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples was presented in a panel discussion in World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC.
Fr Gariguez entered San Jose College (Annex) Seminary and took up AB Pre-Divinity (Philosophy) at Ateneo de Manila University. He obtained his master's degree in Theology from Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1992. He also obtained an STB degree from Fujen Catholic University, an affiliate of the same school.
In 2005 he took up masteral course in Sociology-Anthropology from Ateneo de Manila University, for a semester. He later transferred to Asian Social Institute (ASI) to enroll for the Doctoral Program on Applied Cosmic Anthropology (ACA). The ACA Program gives emphasis on the application of knowledge and research to the concrete social realities that students face as catalyst of development or as agents of change. Fr Gariguez finished his PhD in 2008. His dissertation expounds on the ecological spirituality of the indigenous peoples in Mindoro as a practical framework and alternative paradigm for sustainable development and well-being.
In 2016, Fr Gariguez co-designed a capacity building modular course in partnership with the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP). He also joined the extended training program and obtained a Certificate in Productivity and Quality Management, with specialization in Community & Area Development, Resilience and Sustainability.
Work in NASSA/Caritas Philippines
From 2010 to 2020, Fr Gariguez was appointed as the Executive Secretary the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA)/Caritas Philippines of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). From November 2013 to 2017, he took responsibility for the over-all coordination of the Haiyan emergency response. NASSA/Caritas Philippines, under his leadership, had launched the most massive, far-reaching emergency, humanitarian program for the Church, with 3.2 Billion-Peso budget to sustain the rehabilitation program in 9 dioceses, for three years.[8]
NASSA/Caritas Philippines is a national network serving the Church in its mission to be truly a Church of the Poor, implementing concrete programs and addressing pressing issues concerning the voiceless sectors and the less-privileged.[9] NASSA, since its foundation in 1966, has been committed to carry out its mandate by underpinning sustainable development and social transformation efforts through development programs and projects that are designed to benefit the disadvantaged and the oppressed.[10]
As development and advocacy arm of the Church, he had been involved in leading and participating in various campaigns and initiatives. His range of engagements include: partnership building, social movement mobilization, ecology and agrarian justice advocacy, Self-Help Approach in microfinance, promotion of indigenous peoples rights, community empowerment, integral and sustainable development, managing social development programs, change process management, media advocacy, climate justice,[11] among others.
Internationally, Fr Gariguez represented Asia to the Representative Council of Caritas Internationalis in Rome, while at the same time being a member of Regional Commission for Caritas Asia from 2019 to 2020. He also served as chair for the Regional Working Group for Institutional Development and Community Strengthening (IDCS) for Caritas Asia from 2018 to 2020.[12]
Locally, Fr Gariguez is a passionate advocate of social transformation, development issues and ecological movements,[13][14] working in very close collaboration with the civil society organizations.[15] He served as convenor, member or chair of the Board of Trustees of several nation-wide organizations like Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI), Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), Integrated Rural Development Foundation (IRDF), Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED), Philippine Faith-Based Organization (FBO-PH), Shared Aid Fund for Emergency Response (SAFER), Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples’ International Center for Policy Research and Education), Ecowaste Coalition, Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) and the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE).
Institutional Development and Capacity Strengthening Initiatives
In 2016, Fr Gariguez initiated a national program called "Lead To Heal" as a strategy for capacity building of the pastoral workers of the Church in the Philippines. This program was in partnership with the Development Academy of the Philippines and Future by Design - Pilipinas. During his term, NASSA/Caritas Philippines has attained a milestone in upscaling its humanitarian competence and global engagements locally and even globally. But the capacity strengthening strategy has to reach the level of the diocesan partners. It is to this end that the program aimed to provide technical expertise to improve the competences of the dioceses in doing development-sector-based engagements, humanitarian response, climate change adaptation and environment sustainability- driven development works and advocacy actions.
In 2018, Fr Gariguez, with encouragement and support from Caritas PH Board of Trustees, founded the Center for Resiliency, Empowerment and Integral Development (CREED), dubbed as the “social action academy” in the Philippines, envisioned to develop the required professionalism, leadership and pastoral competence among the diocesan social action workers.[16][17]
Present Engagement
In July 2020, he resigned as Executive Secretary of NASSA/Caritas Philippines[18] and returned to Oriental Mindoro where he now works as Social Action Director for the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan and Development Program Support Coordinator for the Mangyan Mission. Concurrently, he is also teaching Ecological Philosophy at St. Augustine College Seminary.
Major Writings, Papers and Publications
“Harnessing Multi-stakeholder Mechanisms to Promote Global Environmental Priorities at the Local Level: The Case of Naujan Lake National Park.” In Taking the People's Road: Bold Experiments in Making Participatory Governance Work. (1997)
“Social Movement and the Struggle Against Globalized Mining: A Case Study of the Mindoro Nickel Project,” paper presented to the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ateneo de Manila University. (2003)
Articulating Mangyan-Alangans’ Indigenous Ecological Spirituality as Paradigm for Sustainable Development and Well-Being. (2008). Unpublished Dissertation, Asian Social Institute.
Alangan Mangyan of Mindoro. (2009). National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
Mindoro Campaigns: Protecting Island Ecology, Defending Peoples’ Rights. (2012). National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA).
“Peace and Resource Conflict: Mining and Philippine Church Experience,” paper delivered on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Pacem in Terris, at the Vatican City, Rome. (2013).
“Community Organizing for Environmental Defense,” case study on community organizing commissioned for documentation by CODE-NGO. (2013)
“Ecological Spirituality, Culture and Development: Approaches and Methodologies in Doing Dialogic Research,” In Unsettling Discourses: The Theory and Practice of Indigenous Studies. Cordillera Studies Center. (2014)
"The Challenge for Vatican II Renewal – From Anthropocentrism to Ecological Spirituality," paper delivered for the Forum on Church and Ecology, De La Salle University. (2014)
“Market Economy and the Process of Cultural Redefinition in Mangyan Society,” BAYBAYIN vo1, no.1, pp.90–103. (2015)
Ecological Spirituality and the Mangyan Alangans of Mindoro. (2017). National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA).
“Localization and Partnership Building in Haiyan Response,” research documentation report submitted to Caritas Asia for Localization Forum in Bangkok, January 27, 2020.
Awards
2012 Goldman Prize Award, Island and Islands Nations
Awarded by the Xavier University, Ateneo de Cagayan the Honoris Causa: Doctor of Philosophy on March 12, 2016,
Awarded by the Earth Day Jam Foundation the GAIA Award in April 2016
Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luzon and northeast of Palawan. Mindoro is divided into two provinces: Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro. San Jose is the largest settlement on the island with a total population of 143,430 inhabitants as of 2015. The southern coast of Mindoro forms the northeastern extremum of the Sulu Sea. Mount Halcon is the highest point on the island, standing at 8,484 feet (2,586 m) above sea level located in Oriental Mindoro. Mount Baco is the island's second highest mountain with an elevation of 8,163 feet (2,488 m), located in the province of Occidental Mindoro.
Occidental Mindoro, officially the Province of Occidental Mindoro, is a province in the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. The province occupies the western half of the island of Mindoro. Its capital is Mamburao, but the largest municipality is San Jose. As of 2020, Occidental Mindoro has 525,354 inhabitants.
The Ateneo de Manila University, also known simply as the Ateneo de Manila or Ateneo and abbreviated as AdMU, is a private, research, basic and higher education institution in Quezon City, Philippines. Founded in 1859 by the Jesuits, it is the second-oldest Jesuit-administered institution of higher learning in the Asia-Pacific.
Mangyan is the generic name for the eight indigenous groups found on the island of Mindoro, southwest of the island of Luzon, the Philippines, each with its own tribal name, language, and customs. The total population may be around 280,001, but official statistics are difficult to determine under the conditions of remote areas, reclusive tribal groups and some having little if any outside world contact.
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