Former, current Duterte Cabinet secretaries remember Gina Lopez

Former and current members of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet on Monday paid tribute to the late Environment Secretary Gina Lopez.

Lopez, an environmentalist and philanthropist, succumbed to multiple organ failure due to brain cancer early Monday morning. She was 65 years old.

“Gina was one of the original members of the Duterte Cabinet that I had the privilege working closely with, especially during the height of her anti-illegal mining campaign. Gina’s passion to save the world was contagious. She is truly a good maverick and patriot,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar said.

“The world will not be the same without a Gina Lopez.”

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea admitted he and Lopez had “some slight differences on certain policies during our stint as members of the Cabinet but remained as friends.”

“We extend our condolences to the entire family and shall offer prayers for the eternal repose of her soul. Rest in peace, Gina,” he added.

In April 2017, Lopez slammed Medialdea for stopping her order directing mining companies to set up a P2-million rehabilitation trust fund and allowed miners to remove their stockpiles.

She said then that Medialdea’s order was anti-poor.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said he knew Lopez back in the day as a “headstrong teenager.”

“Fixing her mind on a cause—like cleaning out the shit in our country & potty-training the mining community on ecological responsibility—she never let up. I am proud to be part of the Cabinet of which she was all too briefly a part,” he said on Twitter.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs aside from the Secretary thereof are sending the biggest wreaths to mourn the passing of a former sadly fleeting Cabinet secretary who was the burning light of the government we serve in. Done to death by the Separation of Powers principle,” Locsin added, in an apparent reference to the rejection of Lopez’s appointment as Environment secretary by the Commission on Appointments (CA), a congressional body composed of select senators and congressmen, in May 2017.

Duterte’s former top aide and now Senator Christopher “Bong” Go remembered Lopez as a “passionate, dedicated and humble” public servant and Earth warrior.

“She was a fearless advocate and a tireless philanthropist, dedicating most of her life for the betterment of her fellow Filipinos.  Her exceptional dedication in protecting our environment has no equal today,” he said.

“May your legacy continue for the generations to come.”

Former Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, whose appointment was also rejected by the CA, said Lopez was “passionate and sincere in doing her job of protecting the environment; linking her environmental initiatives with poverty reduction programs” during the latter’s brief stint in the Cabinet.

“She was articulate and fearless in presenting at Cabinet meetings DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] programs that would protect the environment, safeguard indigenous communities and create livelihood programs for the poor,” Taguiwalo said in a Facebook post.

“These included closures of mines which destroyed mountains, water sources and sacred ancestral lands of indigenous peoples. Mining corporations resisted these initiatives but Gina stood her ground,” she added.

Taguiwalo said the Philippines lost a “people’s champion.” 

“Thank you dear Sec Gina. Rest in power,” she said.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who took Lopez's post in 2017 after her appointment was rejected by the Commission on Appointments, called Lopez "a pure champion of the environment, bold and fearless in her advocacies, regardless of the consequences.

"She was uncompromising in protecting watersheds and imposing high standards of responsibility on the mining industry. At the same time, Gina was compassionate for the underprivileged, and for them promoted ecotourism as a way out of poverty," he added.

Lopez canceled the contracts of 75 mining companies during her term at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

"She was an inspiration to many, a personification of our hopes for a sustainably greener environment with bountiful natural resources for all. The DENR family will remember her with fondness, respect, and love. We will honor her by building on her legacy," Cimatu added. —KBK/KG, GMA News