Contextualizing Laudato si in the Philippines: Environmental Problem in Purok 1A, Hapay na Mangga, Barangay Dolores, Taytay, Rizal

Abstract

Laudato si (2015) is a landmark encyclical in the teachings of the Catholic Church concerning the environment. While the Church has issued encyclicals before on social teaching, and briefly mentioned the environment in previous encyclicals, this is the first time that social teaching has been put deeply into the context of an encyclical devoted primarily to the environment. This calls for a reassessment of the peoples’ perceptions on how they care for the environment in the Philippine context. A case study was conducted in a rural area near Metro Manila in the Province of Rizal. This paper reports the views of 47 respondents (N=47) from Purok 1A, Hapay na Mangga, Barangay Dolores, Taytay, Rizal, Philippines, aged from 18 to 60 years old. The Descriptive results of statistics and thematic analyses of respondents’ responses were based on the Care for the Environment Scale (CES) developed by the researcher in this study. The CES revealed significant differences in the perceptions of the respondents about how they care for their environment. This case study illustrates how this research can be used to inform all the people to initiate programs based on the ethics of care and the encyclical Laudato si.