From Crisis to Collective Action: MCJSC 2025 Part 2

Part 2: Strengthening Community Capacities and Building a Collective Mandate for 2026

November 28, 2025 · Diocesan Pastoral Center, Impalambong, Malaybalay, Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines

Click here to read Part 1: Grounding in Faith, Struggle, and Frontline Realities

Lumad and community representatives gather again on Day 2, carrying forward the stories, resolve, and shared commitments built on the first day of the conference. Their presence anchored the morning’s solidarity messages and reflections.

 

Day 2: Solidarity, Reflection, and the Work Ahead

The second day opened with voices from faith institutions, global networks, and frontline communities—reminding participants that the struggle for climate justice is both deeply local and undeniably global.

Solidarity Messages from Faith and Sectoral Leaders

A video message from Archbishop Jose “Joe” Cabantan of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and MCJ BOT member set the tone for the morning. He spoke with clarity and conviction:

“We are not just facing an ecological crisis but a moral one. In moments of crisis, faith must lead us toward courage.”

He called on the Church to stand with communities facing displacement, militarization, and ecological destruction—insisting that accompaniment, not silence, must define the Church’s role.

Fresh from COP30 in Belém, Brazil, Fr. Pedro Walpole, SJ offered a sobering reflection:

“The biggest polluters came to COP30 without the political will to change. They made promises without commitments. This is why communities must lead.”

He urged Mindanao’s Church, civil society, and youth movements to expand community-led ecological solutions grounded in Indigenous knowledge and watershed protection. Click here to read Fr. Walpole’s reflections Returning to local realities post-COP Belém

Fresh from COP30 in Brazil, Fr. Pedro Walpole, SJ, offered a sobering reflection on the lack of political will among major polluters and urged communities in Mindanao to lead with Indigenous ecological knowledge and grounded local action.

 

Before the workshop sessions began, community leaders shared a light moment with Fr. Art Paraiso and Bishop Noel Pedregosa — a small reminder that solidarity is built not only in formal discussions, but also in the relationships strengthened along the way.

 

Parallel Workshops: Building Skills for a Transformative 2026

Participants then divided into three workshop tracks designed to deepen shared capacities for the struggles ahead.

1. Mental Health & Collective Care

Led by Dr. Reggie Pamugas, a human rights psychiatrist and mental-health practitioner, the workshop explored how displacement, militarization, poverty, and ecological loss generate layered traumas across generations.

Participants practiced:

  • trauma-informed accompaniment
  • Psychological First Aid
  • collective stress mapping
  • creating culturally rooted, faith-informed community care circles.

The group committed to sustaining cross-community care circles beyond the conference—recognizing that solidarity requires not only activism, but also healing.

Participants of the Mental Health and Collective Care Workshop gather for a group photo after electing regional focal persons who will help sustain community-based care circles beyond the conference.

 

2. Kinaiyahan Youth Assembly

The youth assembly opened with an MCJ-led module on Citizen Journalism & Combating Disinformation, equipping young organizers to:

  • document community realities
  • confront false narratives
  • reclaim digital spaces for truth and justice
MCJ volunteer facilitated a Citizen Journalism session for the Kinaiyahan Youth, equipping young leaders with tools to challenge disinformation, document community stories, and reclaim narrative power in climate justice struggles.

 

They reviewed the Kinaiyahan Orientation, updated their Constitution & By-Laws, and elected Mindanao-wide officers. The Bukidnon and Marawi chapters consolidated plans and committed to quarterly convenings and coordinated actions for 2026.

The assembly closed with a shared affirmation:

Youth are not future leaders—they are leaders now.

Members of the Kinaiyahan Youth Network from across Mindanao gathered for their assembly, where they elected new officers, reviewed their constitution, and mapped out coordinated campaigns for 2026.

 

3. Legal & Advocacy Workshop

Grounded in an MCJ overview of the relationship between legal action and community mobilization, the session emphasized that cases alone cannot protect communities—they must be paired with organized people’s power.

Atty. Thaddeus Tuburan (UPLM) facilitated the intake of community case profiles, identifying patterns of:

  • land grabbing
  • harassment
  • militarization
  • criminalization of defenders

The intake produced a preliminary map of cases for coordinated follow-up by PANAAD, signaling stronger legal accompaniment in the coming months.

Atty. Thaddeus Tuburan of the Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) facilitated the legal and advocacy track, guiding communities through case intake and initial legal mapping for coordinated follow-up.

 

The Legal and Advocacy Workshop brought together Lumad, Moro, peasant, and sectoral leaders to surface ongoing cases, strengthen documentation, and consolidate collective strategies for 2026.

Launching the PANAAD Network & Reading of the Bukidnon Declaration

Participants gather in plenary as representatives from each workshop share their reflections, weaving together insights on care, youth leadership, and community defense.

 

After the workshops, participants reconvened for a pivotal collective step: the formal launching of the PANAAD Network—a multisectoral formation offering:

  • rapid response
  • legal support
  • psychosocial care
  • interfaith accompaniment
  • coordinated advocacy

Sr. Zeny Jean Amar opened the launch, grounding it with a clear call:

“If yesterday we heard their cries, today we must live out our responsibility.”

The plenary then listened to the Bukidnon Declaration, a product of testimonies, research, prayer, and dialogue.

The Declaration affirms that:

  • climate change intensifies historic injustices in Mindanao
  • Indigenous governance holds ecological wisdom essential for resilience
  • women, youth, and elders are central to the struggle
  • memory, ritual, and faith are sources of collective strength

It commits participants to:

  • defend land, life, and self-determination
  • strengthen the PANAAD Network
  • expand youth organizing and truth-telling
  • deepen community-based mental health and care
  • resist red-tagging and harassment
  • demand dignified return for displaced families
  • uphold Lumad and Bansamoro rights
  • ground climate action in science and Indigenous knowledge

Its final line rang across the hall:

“No community should face these converging crises alone.”

With PANAAD focal persons and sectoral leaders standing in unity, the Bukidnon Declaration is read aloud—calling communities, faith groups, and advocates to uphold justice, protect ancestral domains, and confront converging crises together.

 

The Symbolic Action

The declaration culminated in a candle-lighting rite. Delegates raised their candles and spoke in unison:

“Panaad ko, Panaad nato — magkahiusa ta.”

My vow, our vow — let us stand united.

In that moment, a shared covenant took shape—rooted in responsibility, hope, and collective commitment.

Participants from across Mindanao—Indigenous, Moro, rural communities, religious, and youth communities—gather for a symbolic action of unity, closing the conference with a shared commitment to defend land, life, and self-determination.

 

Day 3: Departing With Renewed Commitment

The final morning offered space for pastoral accompaniment, reflection, and informal planning circles among lay workers, youth organizers, and community representatives.

Delegates discussed next steps and deepened emerging alliances, recognizing that real climate justice work begins when the conference ends.

Participants left Malaybalay carrying:

  • shared clarity,
  • strengthened networks, and
  • a renewed determination to uphold land, life, and self-determination.

They departed knowing that while the crises are immense, collective action makes the path forward possible.

 

A Movement Renewed

The Mindanao Climate Justice & Solidarity Conference 2025 stands as a testament to what communities, Church workers, and civil society can build when they act together.

As participants prepared for their journeys home, one line echoed again and again:

“Padayon is not just to continue— it is to continue together.”

Delegates take part in a quiet candle-lighting rite during the conference’s close, a simple gesture of shared resolve before returning to their communities.