LIBONA, Bukidnon (MindaNews / 20 July) — During its 130th Plenary Assembly held in Boho from June 30 to July 4, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) tasked the Most Reverend Gerardo “Gerry” Alminaza (Bishop of San Carlos), the newly elected chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Social Action-Justice and Peace (ECSA-JP), to take care of creating the Episcopal Commission on Integral Ecology (ECIE). On 18 July 2025, Bishop Gerry announced during the online meeting with the country’s regional coordinators of Integral Ecology Ministry (IEM) that ECSA-JP is now “preparing or transitioning towards it.”
This announcement was met with mixed responses from the participants. Nevertheless, it was agreed that the IEM regional coordinators will facilitate the ongoing consultation process about the CBCP decision.
Personally, I consider this as another important milestone in the CBCP’s ecological advocacy. May we recall that, in 2024, the CBCP made a significant decision during its 128th plenary assembly in Cagayan de Oro City when it decided to “elevate our ecology desk in all ecclesiastical jurisdictions into Integral Ecology Ministry” (Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David). A year later, the CBCP is on the process of creating the Integral Ecology as a new episcopal commission distinct from ECSA-JP.
Ecological Advocacy Before Laudato Si’
Until recently, the prevailing view of Catholic social teaching is to understand the environmental crisis within a broader matrix of social problems. Perceiving the ecological concerns “as an aspect of other social injustices perhaps marks out the distinctive contribution of [Catholic social teaching] to ecotheology” (Celia Deane-Drummond).
It can be recalled that, before the advent of Laudato Si’, human ecology is “the primary means by which the Vatican spoke about the environment and linked it to other social concerns, especially those regarding the inviolability of human life” (Lucas Briola). In global term, human ecology “refers to the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and cultural environments” (Donal Dorr). It officially entered into the vocabulary of the Catholic social teaching in the early 1990s.
In Centesimus Annus (1992), John Paul II sadly remarks that “people are rightly worried … about preserving the natural habitats of the various animal species threatened with extinction … [but] too little effort is made to safeguard the moral conditions for an authentic ‘human ecology.’” Obviously, he is deeply worried about “the more serious destruction of the human environment, something which is by no means receiving the attention it deserves” (no. 38).
Like his predecessor, Benedict XVI also prioritized human ecology. He believed that issues affecting the natural ecology could not be properly addressed until issues affecting the human ecology were first corrected. This is evident in Caritas in Veritate (2009) where he argues that “when ‘human ecology’ is respected within society, environmental ecology also benefits” (no. 51).
In the Philippines, it is common to consider ecological concerns as part of the church’s response to social concerns together with poverty, dysfunctional families, human rights violations, corruption in government, and Indigenous People’s struggles. In fact, as early as 1991, the dioceses in the Philippines were mandated to set up an ecology desk in their social action centers and “make ecology a special concern of the social action apostolate down to the parochial level” (Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines or PCP-II).
To appropriate PCP-II’s mandate, many social action apostolates in the country have evolved into an advocacy of justice, peace and integrity of creation or JPIC. Even the seminaries that seek to be responsive to the urgent challenges have placed their ecological advocacy under the pillars of pastoral and human formation. In any case, they remain anthropocentric by narrowly considering the ecological concerns as mere part of the social concerns.
The hanging bridge in sitio Mantaboo’s Bobonawan River (Libona, Bukidnon) allows the Higaonon tribal community to safely cross the mighty river even during rainy season. The period of transitioning to Episcopal Commission on Integral Ecology is like crossing the bridge over troubled water. Photo courtesy of Fr. Reynaldo D. Raluto.
Laudato Si’ and the Shift to Integral Ecology
With the advent of Laudato Si’ in 2015, Pope Francis dramatically departed from the prevailing framework that used to put the ecological concerns under the category of social concerns. He did this by creatively appropriating the holistic notion of “Integral Ecology” embracing social ecology and other variety of ecologies that simultaneously hear both the cry of the poor and the earth.
In Laudato Si’, the ecological concerns (or the care for the integrity of creation) are not only added as another component of the existing social concerns. It does not simply expand the scope of social concerns in order to accommodate the ecological concerns.
The holistic notion of Integral Ecology in Laudato Si’ brings together the environmental, human, economic, social, cultural, and everyday life ecologies (see LS 138–55), as well as ethical principles of the common good, human rights, intergenerational justice, and the intrinsic value of nature (see LS 140). The center of gravity shifted to integral ecology by putting social ecology, together with other ecological practices, under the umbrella of integral ecology without collapsing their respective distinctions. Apparently, as Laudato Si’ frames it, the scope of integral ecology ministry is far broader than that of the social concerns.
The Dilemma to Move or to Remain
Bishop Gerry expressed his willingness to do the task of transitioning towards a functioning ECIE. Hopefully, when this is done, he will also serve as its chairman. According to him, in their next CBCP Plenary Assembly, the body “will decide if I will move to ECIE or remain [as chairman of] ECSA-JP].”
Last year, Bishop Gerry explained that the Church saw the need to form a broader service focused on integral ecology. Compared to social action ministry, “integral ecology ministry is even much broader in scope than social action work. … As a matter of fact, social action works like justice and peace, human rights and human dignity are important aspects of integral ecology.” Hopefully, the dioceses in the Philippines will welcome this shift to a new paradigm brought about by Laudato Si’.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Fr. Reynaldo D. Raluto is the parish priest of Jesus Nazareno Parish in Libona, Bukidnon).
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