“Care for nature is part of a lifestyle which includes the capacity for living together and communion.” (Par. 228, Laudato Si’)

I met the Focolare movement through my aunts when I was back in grade school. They also invited me to my first Mariapolis in Manila in the early 1980’s. The Word of Life meetings I attended and the New City magazine to which I received a subscription also greatly influenced me as I grew up.

As a young boy, I wanted to become a priest to serve God’s people. Later, I changed my mind and wanted to be a doctor to serve the poor. I was so determined that when I entered college, I took up BS Biology, a premedicine course. Little did I know that God was preparing me for a career I was trying to avoid.

I joined the country’s oldest and one of the most respected and prestigious banks, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), as a management trainee in 1993. At first it was really a struggle but when I slowly realized that even the difficult clients and moments were an expression of God’s love for me, I slowly learned to love my job and appreciate the opportunity God gave me to serve His people and improve on myself. Little did I know that in His own mysterious ways God was preparing me to engage in environmental concerns.

Bayanihan Para sa Inang Bayan (BPI Bayan) 
In 2011, BPI encouraged its employees to come up with their own volunteerism project as a way of giving back to the community they served. After consultations among the bank’s fellow officers, we all decided to adopt a stretch of beach in our city so as to keep the area clean for the benefit of beach users, and also to protect the livelihood of people who depended on the sea for their income. We planned to conduct a simple monthly clean-up of the beach.

The project goes under the name of Bayanihan Para sa Inang Bayan (BPI Bayan). It is a partnership between individuals and organizations working hand in hand for the betterment of the motherland. Along with representatives from the barangay, fishermen and student groups, as well as civic organizations, the Focolare’s local community in Dumaguete has been a partner since the start.

The project started with a very minimal amount of seed money and we were wondering how we could go ahead. Even for a simple clean up, funds are needed to buy tools like rakes and spades. Entrusting everything to Him, we witnessed providence for the project slowly coming in, all in perfect timing. A grains vendor supplied us free sacks to use in the clean-ups.

Another referred us to someone who could help recruit more volunteers for the clean-up. A third suggested that we place trash receptacles along the beach. After much consultation with partners, in the end BPI Bayan provided four garbage sack holders, the fisher folks committed themselves to regularly pick up the filled sacks and deposit them at the entrance to the beach for the garbage trucks, and the well-funded partners pledged additional garbage sack holders to cover the entire stretch of beach.

Dialogue and networking 
It is also through our constant dialogue with the partners that we were able to come up with a more comprehensive approach for our project. All three additional project components, i.e. mangrove planting, reef dome construction and eco-financial awareness campaign, are the result of talking things over together and putting in common our ideas, capabilities, materials and precious time.

Allow me to give a little background here. We ventured into mangrove planting because we believed we could achieve three major goals – carbon sequestration, increased fishery production and shoreline protection. We started using the usual species of mangroves and planting techniques.

When they did not work out, we innovated a little. But still we were not getting the results we wanted. Seeing what happened, one partner consulted the country’s foremost authority on mangroves, and we turned to a slowgrowing variety which upon reaching three years of age, could survive the strong waves of the amihan (or northeast monsoon) season. Today, these mangroves are now doing well in two nurseries supported by our partners.

The nearby reef was damaged by previous storms and fish had no place where they could seek shelter. A marine scientist informed the barangay captain of the need to deploy artificial reefs and in turn, we were approached to find out if we could do something about it. Seizing this opportunity to love the fishermen, the core group came up with an artificial reef made out of concrete which we called reef domes.

Again, when this was made known, providence for construction materials came from private individuals who got to know about our project through their friends in the local environmental group. My fellow bank employees, students, a group of security guards and Focolare youths in the local community took turns helping in the construction. When deployment time came, the Bantay Dagat team took charge assisted by volunteer divers. Annual monitoring is likewise conducted by them.

Proactive approach 
But all our efforts would be for nothing if people’s view of the environment would not change. The above-mentioned activities were reactive in nature. Instead, we wanted to be proactive.

So we came up with a financial literacy module that connected the habit of saving money to environmental protection. We called it Savings for the Future, Saving the Earth. We offered it in different schools in the city with the help of partners who set up the schedules.

But deep in our hearts, we wanted to introduce it to a broader audience. And God did pave the way for us to meet a bishop of another Christian church who offered us free air time on their radio station. Together with two environmental NGOs, we anchored the one hour radio program Kulokabildo sa Kalikupan (Conversation with Nature) every Sunday morning.

Through this project, we see that working together with others in unity to save and protect the environment is possible. All we need to do is to say our Yes and start with simple things like refusing to buy products that contribute to environmental degradation, or if this is not possible, to reduce our consumption of such products, and to segregate our wastes. Sooner or later, God will connect us to each other and help us respond to the Pope’s prayer for our earth:

O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned
and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world
and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty,
not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts of those who
look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover
the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly
united with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.

(A Prayer for the Earth in Laudato Si’)

Gary Rosales

Leodegario Pitos Rosales or simply called Gary is the business manager or branch head of BPI Dumaguete Perdices Branch and at the same time cluster head for the bank’s branches in the cities of Dumaguete and Bais, Negros Oriental. His projects has garnered the BPI Bayan Most Outstanding Project 2011, BPI Bayan Most Outstanding Project 2012, BPI Bayan Outstanding Project 2013, Finalist, BPI Bayan Sustained Community Project 2013 (Special Award), and BPI Bayan Most Outstanding Project 2014. BPI Foundation gives the Most Outstanding Project award to the top three projects every year in the Philippines.