Build the Bridge But Preserve Paradise Reef

Joel Tabora, S.J.

Oct 26

Whether we are from government, the private sector, or academe, the environmental crisis in the world – signaled by global warming, climate change, extreme weather, hurricanes and floods, wildfires and drought, the loss of biodiversity on land and in the oceans – necessitates that we stand back from the "most efficient way" of doing things in order to take a stand for the environment.

Pope Francis was once asked, "Who is the most oppressed person in the world today." His answer was not the worker "discarded" by the production system nor the farmer deprived of his land. His answer was "the environment" – our common home. Mindlessly, we allow our environment to be destroyed. It is our home. But we allow it – in the name of progress – to be dirtied, abused, ruined or destroyed.

Like the Paradise Reef between Samal and Davao. I have seen its yellow scroll coral, its massive brain coral, its tiered table coral. I have seen the giant clams, the red-orange starfish, and all manner of colorful tropical fish thriving in and around the coral. All treasures one would not even know is there if all one sees is surface! With Pope Francis, it is time to take a deeper look and take a stand for the environment – our common home.

Too often has "progress" been responsible for the loss of biodiversity – the loss of sources of extremely important resources for such as curing diseases and industrial materials. Corals are the rainforests of the oceans, the sites of spawning for countless fish that are of use for the "food sufficiency" of human beings. But the value of biodiversity is not only in its usefulness for humankind. Pope Francis insists that all species created in their uniqueness by a loving God have "value in themselves." When we allow them to be destroyed or to go extinct, they can no longer give us and our children breathtaking joy. "They no longer give glory to God." "We have no such right," Francis insists.[1] Instead, we must take a stand for the environment.

We are not against the Samal Island City of Davao (SIDC) Connector Bridge. But where there are clear alternatives to destroying Paradise Reef by building the bridge to land in the Costa Marina Beach Resort, here we take a stand for the environment. Build the bridge, but preserve the Paradise Reef. Build the SIDC Bridge, but preserve the coral reef for its value in itself, for the joy it can bring to ourselves and our children, and for the glory it gives to our Creator God.

(SGD) Fr. Joel E. Tabora, S.J.

[1] Francis. Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home. Chapter One, III, pg26-27)