Gina Lopez

Gina Lopez
Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources
Incumbent
Assumed office June 30, 2016
President	Rodrigo Duterte
Preceded by	Ramon Paje
Personal details
Born	Regina Paz La'O Lopez (1953-12-27) December 27, 1953
Parents	Eugenio M. López Jr. and Conchita La'O
Alma mater	Assumption College (Boston); Newton College of the Sacred Heart (Boston); Asian Institute of Management; Ateneo de Naga University
Occupation	Chairperson, ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation; Secretary, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Philippines); Chairman Emeritus, Southeast Asian Children’s Television

Regina Paz "Gina" La'O Lopez (born December 27, 1953) is the current Secretary of the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). She is a philanthropist, a former yoga missionary, a pioneer for corporate social responsibility, and an environmentalist. She was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte.^[1]

Early Life

Lopez is the daughter of ABS-CBN Chairman Emeritus Eugenio Lopez, Jr. of Iloilo and Conchita La'O of Manila. She has six siblings including ABS-CBN Chairman Eugenio Lopez III. At a young age, Lopez already had a sense of peace and environmental advocacy. Lopez went to Assumption College and Newton College of the Sacred Heart in Boston. She has a Master’s Degree in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management and a Doctorate Degree in Humanities, Honoris Causa from the Ateneo de Naga University. She has two sons.

Missionary and Peace Advocate in Africa

After studying in the United States, Lopez left her elite life in Manila and became a yoga missionary for 20 dedicated years and went to Portugal, India, and Africa. She met her now ex-husband in Africa with whom she had two sons. She became an Ananda Marga yoga missionary and taught yoga-run, pre-primary schools and children in homes for the underprivileged.^[2] She lived among the people of slum areas in Africa and helped them as her advocacy.^[3]

Return to the Philippines

When she returned to the Philippines, she pioneered corporate social responsibility programs for the environment and Filipino communities. Her experience in Africa and other foreign lands blossomed her advocacy even more. She became the Managing Director of one of the Philippines’ biggest non-government organizations, the ABS-CBN Foundation.^[4]

She initiated Bantay Bata 163, the country’s first media-based hotline. In 1997, Bantay Bata was the United Nations Grand Awardee for Excellence besting 187 countries all over the world.

She spearheaded Bantay Kalikasan, for which she received the 1997 International Public Relations Award of Excellence for the Environment and Outstanding Manilans Award for the Environment, 2009.^[5]

She produced educational television shows on Science, Math, Values, History and English for elementary and Philippine Literature for high school. For Sineskwela, Ms. Lopez was honored with the UNESCO Kalinga Award, the first Southeast Asian to earn such a distinction.

She is also the Vice-Chairperson of ABS-CBN Bayan Foundation, which provides microfinance assistance to micro-entrepreneurs. She is also the Chairman Emeritus of Southeast Asian Children’s Television.^[6]

Ms. Lopez also initiated the rehabilitation of the Pasig River and nearby urban esteros through the Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig project.^[7]Once considered as the lifeline of the Filipino nation, Pasig River is one of the most polluted and toxic river systems in the Philippines today. For her efforts in rehabilitating the river, she was appointed in 2010 by President Benigno S. Aquino as the Chairperson of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission. Her efforts in the commission led to a river rehabilitation revolution which cleansed numerous tributaries in the Pasig river system. She was also responsible for the reforestation of the La Mesa Watershed Reservation, the last remaining forest zone in Metro Manila.^[8]

She organized “Bayanijuan” (Country of Juan) that synergizes the foundation’s program bringing about a better life for millions of Filipinos. She also launched the “Save Palawan Movement” along with partner organizations. She stood up to the challenge to gather 7 million signatures to say in one loud voice that key biodiversity areas must be protected and not be ravaged by mining.^[9]

The Philippines’ Lopez Family has been cited internationally with the Global Family Philanthropy Award, for more than a hundred years of philanthropic and corporate social responsibility achievements. She is a pioneer in media-based philanthropy. From rescue to education, from protection to financial security, up to the preservation of nature, she has provided an all-around design for the Filipino child. Her achievements and expertise in corporate social responsibility have been widely recognized.^[10]

Lopez is a vehement anti-mining advocate, known for her stance against large-scale mining ones in the province of Palawan. She backs the No Mining In Palawan Movement.^[11] She has also objected to the use of fossil fuels as sources of energy and coal mining.^[12]

Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources

During a courtesy visit with President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City, Lopez initiated an environmental lecture for Duterte about the need for a better national environmental policy. Duterte then asked her to be his secretary for environment. A few days later, she accepted the offer and was formally appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte to head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources or DENR. She was grilled by social media on her appointment because of her family name, Lopez, which is much regarded as a Filipino business tycoon surname.^[13]

She hit the ground running on the very first day in office. She audited all mining sites and firms in the entire republic and stripped environmental certificates from a bulk of the mining industry due to massive violations against the environment and the law, the first time a secretary of environment did so. This led to a massive public support for her work as DENR secretary and apology to her for the appointment grilling that happened in social media. Few of the many notable certificates that were stripped were those for mining companies doing operations in Semirara Island (a key biodiversity area) in Antique, Eastern Samar, Surigao del Sur which is home to indigenous Lumad communities, and Cordillera Administrative Region which the melting pot of northern Luzon indigenous people. She has advocated a 100% renewable energy Philippines and is vehemently against mining saying, "The Philippines does not need mining." Her anti-mining sentiment is backed by years of Philippine research on mining, both ecologically and economically. She also said that there will be no mining operations of any form on Palawan, which is popularly known as the last ecological frontier of the country. Within less than 2 months, she has audited all mining firms from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. She is also an indigenous people (IP) advocate. She immediately established forums for consultations between the DENR and the indigenous people sector in the Philippines, the first time such a DENR secretary did so. She also established the first ever DENR public hotline wherein the public can tell all environmental violations of any entity in the country directly to the DENR and her office. She is against nuclear energy due to years of research about the matter. The Nuclear Power Plant in Bataan will only contribute to less than 0.5% to the National Energy Grid when operated and its costs will be much higher, making it unsustainable. She prefers the establishment of more wind and solar power plants, which are massively cheaper and sustainable in the long-run, and the possible cooperation of the Philippines and Australia to establish the first wave energy plants in Asia. The Philippines is the center of the Pacific Typhoon Belt, bestowing it with the most maximized wind and wave shocks in the world.^[14]

In a public announcement, she told media that all buffer zones in all protected areas in the country shall also be revitalized into their natural state. She is also pushing for the establishment of numerous protected areas in the country such as the West Panay Mountain Range National Park. She also announced that the UP Arboretum will be an ecological paradise where the informal settlers in the area will be the partners for its development. Her environmental policies are much criticized by some big business ventures and pro-mining lawmakers^[15] in the republic (her father owns one of the biggest companies in the country), but are backed by numerous environmental and human rights NGO's. In a recent survey, Filipinos back Lopez' environmental policy by a huge majority. She has been called a symbol and champion of environmental conservation in the country ever since.^[16]

Awards

• United Nations Grand Awardee for Excellence (1997) for the Bantay Bata 163 which she initiated and advocated
• International Public Relations Award of Excellence for the Environment (1997)
• Outstanding Manilans Award for the Environment (2009)
• UNESCO Kalinga Award, where she was the first Southeast Asian to receive the prestigious award

References