The article deals with a local ecological issue, the mining activities that threaten to destroy the Taguibo Watershed in Butuan, southern Philippines. Conversing with social theories, philosophical systems, and theological knowledge, the author examines the involvement of the “narrators of the Christian story”. The investigation reveals that the prevailing stance of the Church can be described as “disengaged pacifism” and “hegemonic engagement,” both tend to project a “triumphalist and self-exalting stance.” The essay argues for an active engagement of “dissenting particularity,” which the radical person of Jesus Christ exemplified for the sake of God’s Kingdom values and on behalf of the poor and marginalized. In the Butuan struggle to save the Taguibo watershed, the dissenting particularity of the Christian narrative calls for critical, creative and productive dialogue processes with the various and conflicting stakeholders, as the narrators also go through a conversion process that can make them truer to their vocation of opting for the poor.
ISSN 1656-2739 (Online)
Philippine E-Journals
