Gina Lopez

Earlier today family, friends, colleagues, sent Gina Lopez off to her final resting place.

Instead of offering flowers Bantay Kalikasan Foundation decided to commemorate the former secretary
by planting 130 saplings of trees at the La Mesa Ecopark.

On her younger years she run away from home three times to find herself, to find a new purpose for her
life.

“It is difficult, I guess, to harness the power of the sun and hold it in your hand. Gina had the power
of the sun,” -Fr. Nilo Tanalega

She was disconnected with her family for 20 years. Her family did not know if she is still alive.

“She loves people so much, and she loves the country so much that she left our family,” -Ernie
Lopez

She joined Ananda Marga yoga missionary, and learned there ‘You cannot restrict your love to your
family alone, you must give your love to the entire world’
After serving in Portugal and India, she spent 11 years in Africa.
“It was there that I learned to value water,” she said

“When one doesn’t have much, one treasures every little bit. I lived as the poor lived, so I learned
how not to be wasteful.”

Gina eventually left the sect after falling in love with their leader Sona Roy, with whom she had two
sons, and went back to Philippines

She’s pregnant with her first born when she went home to our homeland

She came back as a new person and became the managing director of ABS CBN Foundation.

She was the daughter of ABS-CBN Chairman Emeritus Eugenio López, Jr. whom made the tagline
of ABS CBN “In the Service of the Filipino”

Truly, she lived her life in the service of the Filipino.

She initiated Bantay Bata 163, because she said she watched a little girl in the news beaten up by
her mother the country’s first media-based hotline. In 1997, Bantay Bata was the United Nations
Grand Awardee for Excellence besting 187 countries all over the world. [3]
She established Bantay Kalikasan and became known for her work in rehabilitating the Pasig River
and La Mesa Watershed,

She produced educational television for elementary and Philippine Literature for high school.
For Sineskwela, Ms. Lopez was honored with the UNESCO Kalinga Award, the first Southeast Asian
to earn such a distinction
She have a heart of a child, she loves to play Filipino games, such as Patintero and Hide and Seek
and even play it when she got bored while waiting for her flight
But she would be most remembered for Her passion and love for the environment

And even prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to appoint her as DENR secretary. Even if she served
as DENR for a very short time she was the most memorable secretary of the agency because she shut
down mining operations and canceled contracts for mines

“She loves the environment because of what it can do for people,” said Ernie.

She was a woman who did not just feel, but she acted,” Susan Afan managing director of ABS-CBN
Foundation.

She love the song “I Believe I Can Fly” because it was her song for the Filipino

“Because we’re so colonizedand we think we’re small but if you feel smallyou will think small you
will dream smallyou will do smallwe are not small we should feel we could fly.

Because she believed that Philippines should soar high she founded the (I.L.O.V.E.) Foundation
 a non-stock, non-profit organization
in Loving Organizations for Village Economies
The organization serves as a dot connector to loving organizations
whose primary purpose is to develop areas by converging forces and
resources in order to enable poor and vulnerable communities to
economically sustain themselves, maintain ecological integrity, uplift
their social conditions, and govern themselves effectively and justly.

“If all of us make an effort, if all of us make a commitment to love God, love our neighbor, take care
of the environment, Our country doesn’t have to be a poor country,”

“God exists. He does, he does, whether you believe it or not. He does exist,’’ 

“And if you can go into the quiet of your heart, you will feel that love is with you every single micro-
second of the day, like every single micro-second of your existence. That love is there for you and it
is here for you unconditionally. And may it continue to hold us, and may it continue to nurture us
and propel us into creating a piece of heaven in this country.”

MANILA – Whether it was providing for the needy, protecting the environment, or promoting
meaningful change, Gina Lopez said she always followed her heart. It was the principle she lived by
until the end, when she passed away on Monday. She was 65.
Before her death, the former environment secretary hosted "G Diaries" on ABS-CBN, where she
promoted sustainable tourism. She also embarked on "Quest for Love" through her ILOVE
Foundation, a search for "change agents" who help the underprivileged.
 
"What I do is I follow my heart and right now, my heart wants to do this," Lopez told ANC's
Headstart in April last year, explaining why she was pursuing her pro-poor advocacy in a private
capacity instead of running for public office, as many had urged her to do.

LOVE-FILLED CHILDHOOD

The second of seven children of Eugenio “Geny” Lopez, Jr. and Conchita La’O, Gina Lopez was
born on December 27, 1953. In an essay for Rogue magazine, she described her childhood as being
warm, full of love and a lot of fun. Still, she longed for something else.
 
While studying in the United States, Lopez tried meditation. “I felt something I had not felt in church
or in school. I had a feeling of Divine Love. That changed my life forever,” she wrote in the essay,
describing her first experience entering an ashram, a monastery or place for spiritual retreat.
 
At 18, Lopez left her life of privilege to become an Ananda Marga yoga missionary. After serving in
Portugal and India, she spent 11 years in Africa.
 
“I was constantly looking for money to survive and take care of the children I was responsible for,”
she wrote for Rogue as she recounted her work as a teacher in “yoga-run, pre-primary schools.”
 
In India, Lopez “lived as the poor lived” and learned “how not to be wasteful” as she could only
collect one pail of water a day in the slum area she lived in.
 
In the essay, she talked about learning the quality of persistence, the value of hardship and the error
of blind obedience.
 
“It is much better to live according to principle than according to rules, because situations in life
change,” she wrote.
 
It came as no surprise that when she returned to Manila after 20 years of missionary work, Lopez
devoted her time to social causes.

In 1994, now back in the arms of her family and their flagship business, Lopez assumed the
leadership of the ABS-CBN Foundation. 

Among her many pioneering projects and programs was Bantay Bata 163, which rescues children
who are victims of domestic violence. She called it a “gift of love to Filipino children.”

Lopez also produced educational television shows, drummed up support for micro-entrepreneurs, and
tapped on the Filipinos’ bayanihan or volunteer spirit in support of medical missions, feeding
programs, and other outreached projects for the less fortunate.

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST
Lopez, however, is best known as an environmental activist. Through Bantay Kalikasan, Lopez
championed the rehabilitation of the 2,700-hectare La Mesa Watershed and the development of the
La Mesa Eco-Park.
 
In an interview with Earth Island Journal, Lopez said cleaning the environment also has “a direct
impact on human consciousness.”
 
“In areas where I’ve cleaned up the creeks and made the place more beautiful, 97 percent of the
people have more peace of mind, 97 percent of people are happier,” she said. “When you’re stressed,
you go to a place which is beautiful and healing and peaceful.” She explained that it can also have an
economic impact as communities are able to earn from eco-tourism.
 
In 2010, Lopez was appointed head of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission. Her work with
other agencies involved relocating informal settlers, which helped rehabilitate the tributaries of the
Pasig River. The clean-up eventually allowed the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority
(MMDA) to revive its Pasig River ferry service.
 
Lopez also spearheaded the campaign to gather 10 million signatures calling for a halt to small- and
large-scale commercial mining in Palawan. Bantay Kalikasan achieved the goal within 4 years. 

 10 million signatures for the environment

In 2014, Lopez wrote about turning 60 and retiring from daily operational work at the ABS-CBN
Foundation. She also talked about moving on from failed marriages - her parents’ and her own.
 
"A good way to have new beginnings is to move from one phase to the next in grace. Bring closure.
Smooth out the rough edges. It feels so much better," she wrote in her column in Philippine Star.
 
Two years later at 62, Lopez took on the challenge of heading the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

 Gina Lopez accepts Duterte's DENR offer

During her short stint in office, the country got a taste of a public servant who was outspoken and
principled. Lopez ordered an inspection of all mining firms for compliance with safety laws, and
promptly closed down violators. Her unprecedented action made her a target of opposition, even as
she found support among religious leaders, indigenous groups, and fellow environment advocates.

 DENR orders closure of 23 mining firms

“Any kind of mining operation in a watershed, that’s like saying that the gold and the nickel are more
important than the water that our people drink,” Lopez said at the time, recounting the actions of the
mining companies they monitored.

“I’m going to do the right thing and let the dice fall where it may. And I am going to hope that maybe
these politicians, even if they’re funded by mining money, must have love for God and country in
their hearts,” Lopez said when asked about the impact of her decisions on her confirmation as
secretary.
 
In May of 2017, the bicameral Commission on Appointments rejected Lopez’s nomination as DENR
secretary, despite her appeal that the environment should be prioritized over business interests, and
despite Duterte’s public remarks supporting her.

Unbowed, Lopez erupted into one of her favorite songs, the inspirational classic "I believe I can fly." 

 Why Gina Lopez loves the song 'I Believe I Can Fly'

In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Lopez said even before she took the job that she
“decided to be true to [herself].” “If I had calculated and maneuvered, I would never have forgiven
myself,” she said.
 
Despite losing the job, Lopez considered the experience an opportunity to further her advocacy.
 
“I got really popular [when I was] rejected from DENR, so I’m riding on a crest and I’m
maneuvering all the support into building green models on the ground,” she said in an interview with
Earth Island Journal.
 
After leaving government, Lopez started an organization called I LOVE (Investments in Loving
Organizations for Village Economies), which she hoped would facilitate “green models” throughout
the country.
 
SPIRITUAL LIFE 

Up until her death, Lopez was active in promoting sustainable development and lifestyles. She hosted
the environmental television show “G Diaries” on ABS-CBN and had a social enterprise company
under the brand G Stuff that sells organic products.
 
In her columns on the Philippine Star, Lopez often talked about meditation, having a healthy lifestyle
through nutritious food and exercise, and natural remedies.
 
“One of the biggest mistakes of humanity is to foolishly think we are these physical bodies and life
ends when this physical body deteriorates,” she added. “The truth is that we are spirit. Living now
gives us the opportunity to 'hone' our spirit so that it is more aligned with higher forces of truth and
light.”

And in one newspaper column, Lopez referenced Anita Moorjani’s bestselling book “Dying To Be
Me.”

“She talks of how she felt when she left her body. Heaven is so nice. She didn’t want to come back.
So, there is life after ‘death,’ Lopez said. “But while we are in this body, let’s be healthy, and
contribute in whatever way we can to a world that runs on love. I have no doubt that that’s the way to
go."

“When one doesn’t have much, one treasures every little bit”