25,000 trees for 25,000 dead in homicides, war on drugs

A group composed of Church and environmental organizations is leading a tree-planting campaign that encourages dioceses to plant and care for at least 25,000 trees in memory of the dead, including the 4,000 killed in the government’s war on drugs.

The campaign, dubbed “Growing 25,000 Trees for Life and Justice,” will be launched simultaneously on Sept. 1 when the Church celebrates World Day of Prayer for Creation.

It is also the start of the Season of Creation, according to CBCPNews, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Gift of life

“We Christians are urgently called to be witness to our faith by taking bold action to preserve the gift of life we share,” said Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos, Negros Occidental, head organizer of the campaign, in a pastoral statement.

“Side by side with the constant threat of environmental degradation is the growing number of people killed in the war on drugs,” he said.

Bro. Tagoy Jakosalem, coorganizer of the campaign, listed its objectives.

“We are responding to the challenge of Pope Francis in Laudato Si, creating heightened awareness and action on the current social and ecological crisis,” he said.

In the CBPCNews post, Jakosalem said the Church was putting context into “our integral response to the current violent approach on the war on drugs, integrating our call for justice both on behalf of nature and of people.”

The Church, through its “Growing 25,000 Trees for Life and Justice” campaign, is encouraging participating organizations to plant and grow endangered Philippine trees and Philippine fruit trees.

Yearlong campaign

The campaign would last for a year—Sept. 1, 2018, to Sept. 1, 2019.

Citing data from the Philippine National Police, Alminaza said that in about two years — from July 1, 2016, to June 11, 2018 — police have recorded 23,518 homicide cases under investigation, equivalent to an average of 33 people killed a day.

“From July 1, 2016, to May 15, 2018, police have tallied 4,279 suspects killed in anti-illegal drug operations, or an average of six a day,” Alminaza said.

In a statement, the bishop said 11.3 percent of homicide cases being investigated by police was drug-related.

At least 45.5 percent was nondrug-related and 43.1 percent was “calling for better scrutiny or motives,” Alminaza said.

“Based only on the aforementioned data, there are already 27,797 persons killed in our country in less than two years and the number is still increasing,” he said.