Faith-based environmental group endorses Robredo

Living Laudato Si’ Philippines supports the presidency of VP Leni Robredo.

It is our resolve that it is more important to stand up and unite as a collective than to be safe. As part of the larger environment and faith-based communities, it is our belief that hope, love, and faith will prevail over fear.

After a series of discernment, Living Laudato Si’ Philippines decides to respond to the call of the Catholic Church for the lay people to engage in principled politics by supporting a candidate who stands for our beliefs, battles, and advocacies.

Living Laudato Si’ Philippines chooses to be part of the ‘critical mass’ that acts and interacts to affect societal change and achieve the common good.

Living Laudato Si’ Philippines declares its support to the presidency of Vice President LENI ROBREDO.

As a result of our discernment process, we have the freedom from doubt that Robredo has the (1) Respect for Life and Human Dignity, (2) Integrity and Accountability, (3) Care for the Environment, (4) Conviction to the Empowerment of the Grassroots, Indigenous Communities and the Most Vulnerable, (5) Openness to Dialogue and Criticism, (6) Spiritual Commitment and Adherence to the Catholic Social Teachings, and (7) Respect to the Rule of Law.

This expression of support, however, is not the usual endorsement.

This manifestation is also an assertion and a challenge to VP Leni that her administration needs to be more clear, progressive, advanced, ambitious, and prominent with its stands and actions on various environmental and climate issues, especially in renewable energy, coal divestment, mining, and environmental communication that are the core programs of our organization.

Living Laudato Si’ Philippines is an environmental organization initiated by Catholic lay people calling on the Philippine financial institutions to divest from coal-related operations and other environmentally harmful activities. It was established as a response to the call of Pope Francis’ second encyclical – Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.

The organization was formally launched on November 7, 2018, at the Manila Cathedral on the eve of the fifth anniversary of super typhoon Haiyan’s landfall in the Philippines.