Sana more magiting for our Earth and people

Today is April 9, Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) here in the Philippines.

We gratefully remember and celebrate all those who shared their lives for our country, for our people.

We pause to pray for more brave, patriotic, heroic Filipinos to serve especially the least, the last and lost among our people.

We raise our petition to heaven to increase the magiting in government, in public service.

Most especially, we lift our supplication for more magiting to save and protect our people, our planet, our Earth, not only within the Philippines but globally!

Next April 22, Earth Day 2026 will be celebrated with the theme – “Our Power, Our Planet ” emphasizing this year’s focus on “leveraging civic action to create lasting structural change rather than just one day celebrations.”

The continuing goal is to more sustainably and collectively protect our earth better through these various key focus areas (see EARTHDAY.ORG) – promotion of renewable energy, protection of biodiversity, reduction of plastic pollution, and, intensified environmental education.

Joining the rest of our global community, in Cebu, our network of Civil Society

Organizations (CSOs) with multisectoral partners are also planning and preparing a whole day celebration of Earth Day.

To the Earth Day Global Theme of “Our Power, our Planet,” our Cebu network would like to add “Our Peace” which our world so badly needs now with the Middle East crisis affecting all people throughout our world and planet!

We will keep you posted about this year’s Cebu CSOs Earth Day celebration closer to

April 22.

For sure, from now on until April 22, 2026 Earth Day, various multilevel, multisectoral local and global eco-friendly activities will take place not only for a day, but on a sustained basis.

We certainly pray for the 5Ps of Sustainable development to be attained - genuine peace and prosperity for our people and planet through partnership.

The University of the Philippines Cebu announced the launch of their “Way Plastikay” campaign – an awareness campaign on UP Cebu’s No Single-Use Plastic Policy – “to support environmental sustainability efforts and in line with the ordinances implemented in Cebu.”

UP Cebu enjoins everyone to “take a stand for a cleaner, greener UP Cebu by joining this movement and making a difference - #UPCebu #WayPlastikay, #NoToSingleUse Plastic-“ for our earth, for our people.

“Limpyo kanunay kon tinud-anay. Wa’y Plastikay!”

Series of environmentally sustainable activities will take place until May 2026 ” to foster unity and action among the various sectors of UP Cebu.”

Years earlier, with UP FABLAB, UP Mass Comm students of Dr. Crina Escabarte

Tanongon also joined the #NotoPlastics- “Love Our Earth Ecobrick Campaign” of DENR-

DEPED-DSWD-EMB-RCE Cebu 7 with other partners throughout the Province of Cebu and the rest of the Visayas.

Padayon, UP Cebu!

We would love to hear as well of the laudable earth-people-protective initiatives of other universities and groups! Message, email us? Salamat!

Mark your calendar for yet another interesting public forum on “Solving the Twin Crises of Waste and Plastic Pollution” organized by the Political Science Society at the University of the Philippines Cebu this Friday, April 10 from 1-4 p.m. at the Arts and Sciences Conference

Hall.

You may want to join and discuss about this : “The waste crisis is a human rights crisis.”

You may also want to remind all that “this waste crisis is created by humans - Ang

basura gikan sa kamot.”

More importantly, “the waste crisis created by humans also violates the rights of our planet, of our earth.”

Both people and earth deserve to be protected by all from all who do not avoid, reduce, divert, segregate, do the various Rs for wastes individually, privately, publicly, collectively, locally, globally.

Join the forum to share, discuss, analyze, yet one more time, about the causes, processes, solutions related to this persistent local and global waste crisis!