The CBCP Synodal and Ecological Retreat in Bukidnon

From July 2 to 4, 2024, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) held its annual sacred retreat at the Convent of the Transfiguration in Malaybalay City. The participants of the CBCP retreat reflected in prayer on the theme, “Synod Spirituality: Embracing Ecology in Light of Praised be And Laudate Deum.” I felt humbled to have been given the privilege of leading this retreat together with Vincentian priest Daniel Franklin Pilario.

As I was thinking about what to share as points for reflection, I wondered why the CBCP chose Bukidnon as the location for this year’s annual holy retreat? This was the first time the CBCP held it in the Mindanao region. What can the Diocese of Malaybalay offer to make this holy retreat truly synodal and ecological?

Pope Francis, in his Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation in 2023, uses the image of a mighty river to describe the emergence and functioning of a synodal Church. In the context of the climate crisis, he believes that much can be done to prevent the worst from happening, “provided that we come together like so many streams, brooks and rivulets, which ultimately flow into a mighty river to irrigate the life of our beautiful planet and our human family for generations to come.”(1)

For me, using Mighty River as a metaphor for synodality provides a meaningful answer to my question of what Bukidnon can offer to synodal reflection. Bukidnon is the heart of Mindanao, the land of lakes and rivers. In fact, six of the eight major rivers in Mindanao have their main sources in the watersheds of Bukidnon, namely the Pulangi, Tagoloan, Maridugao, Cagayan, Salug-Davao, and Agusan-Cugman rivers.(2) Bukidnon is indeed recognized as the “watershed province” of Mindanao, the land of rivers and lakes.

The six major rivers in Mindanao continuously receive water from the estimated 321 tributaries that originate and cross from different corners of the province of Bukidnon before finally emptying into the sea. The Pulangi River, for example, is just a creek where it originates in the vast Kalabugao Mountains in the town of Impasug-ong. But it becomes the second largest river in the country because of its major tributaries, namely the Tigua River, Sawaga River, Manupali River, Kulaman River, Maramag River and Muleta River.

In the Cotabato area, where the Pulangi River flows into the Rio Grande de Mindanao, the major tributaries are the Maridugao River, the Kabakan River, and the Allah River. Seeing the intersection and confluence of many creeks and streams that led to the formation of the Bukidnon Rivers should be a powerful visual aid to thinking about synodality.

Furthermore, the story of ecological struggle in Bukidnon can inspire the CBCP retreats. Bukidnon is not only an ecologically gifted province, but is also considered the cradle of environmental activism in the Philippines. We can recall that it was in the remote parish of San Fernando in our diocese that the poor farmers successfully organized a series of pickets against loggers in 1987. As a result, the DENR declared the province of Bukidnon under a logging moratorium and in 1990 appointed the 45 priests and deacons of the Diocese of Malaybalay as forest rangers.

The growing environmental activism in Bukidnon was fertilized by the blood of our own diocesan priest and a deputy forest ranger, Nery Lito Satur, who was brutally murdered on October 14, 1991 for courageously protecting the province’s remaining forest. To cherish his ecological legacy, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Bukidnon passed an ordinance requiring that every 14^e day of October was declared “Father Neri Saturday Day in the Province of Bukidnon” effective October 6, 2004. The people of Bukidnon gratefully remember Fr. Neri as a glowing ember of hope that keeps the fire of our ecological advocacy burning.

I believe it was the Holy Spirit that guided the CBCP retreats to choose Bukidnon as a location to reflect on ecology and synodal spirituality. Many of them, after knowing the story of Bukidnon’s ecological struggles and the ecological significance of Bukidnon in the riverine ecosystem of Mindanao, must have realized in retrospect why they had chosen to reflect their synodal and ecological theme here in this remote, landlocked province in Mindanao.

(1) Pope Francis, Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (1 September 2023); https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2023/documents/20230513-messaggio-giornata-curacreato.html.

⁽²⁾ See Mindanao Development Authority, “Integrated River Basin Management in Mindanao Pushed,” Official Gazette (June 8, 2011); https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2011/06/08/integrated-river-basin-management-in-mindanao-pushed/.