VISIONARY is a word routinely applied to dreamers who see the world differently. And one thing that makes them a visionary is that they seem to go beyond the rules of the world. Heck, sometimes they think it doesn’t apply to them. This frightens a lot of people who are stickler for rules. They believe norms and laws, and adherence to these is what makes the world safe—and they’re right. But where would we be if we insist on living and following the same rules day after day after day? This is why often visionaries are regarded as crazy or nuts—because they threaten the safety of the constant, the known, the expected.
Imagine if everyone was normal and everyone would just follow the rules? And no one was “crazy” enough to defy them? Nothing would change and everything will be boring and everything that’s ugly will remain ugly. Change, good or bad, can be attributed to “crazy” people. And that is why they are visionaries.
One such visionary is Gina Lopez. She may have been called a lot of glowing names but there were also not a few people who found her eccentric, to say the very least. Stubborn and unreasonable to some. “Na buang na” was what one Facebook commenter posted when footage of her singing “I Believe I Can Fly” made the rounds of social media. But it is undeniable: Gina Lopez was one extraordinary person.
Her achievements are many. Long before it was chic to be civic-minded, Gina already was. She spearheaded a lot of programs for the environment and Filipino communities, and became the managing director of the ABS-CBN Foundation. She initiated Bantay Bata 163, the country’s first media-based hotline. She also founded Bantay Kalikasan, and produced various educational TV shows. Gina also served as the vice chairman of the ABS-CBN Bayan Foundation which provided microfinance assistance to microentrepreneurs, and was also the chairman emeritus of Southeast Asian Children’s Television.
Gina also initiated the rehabilitation of the Pasig River that led to the cleaning of numerous tributaries, and was also responsible for the reforestation of the La Mesa Watershed Reservation.
Gina was also an anti-mining advocate, giving large-scale miners a splitting headache with her determination. It was for these efforts that President Duterte appointed her to head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
She hit the ground running in her new position, ordering an audit of all mining sites and firms in the country, and stripping companies of their environment permits when found to be in violation of environmental laws. She also had plans to create buffer zones and revitalize a lot of protected areas.
Back to Gina being a visionary. Of course it goes without saying a lot of people were up in arms about her and two years ago, her tenure as Environment secretary ended as her appointment was rejected by the Commission on Appointments. She was replaced by former military general Roy Cimatu who, in his own words, was capable of replacing her because “nagtanim naman ako ng puno dati.”
But this did not stop Gina. In the press conference after her rejection, she graciously thanked the people who believed in her but, more important, urged legislators to always look after the needs of the poor.
Such was Gina Lopez. She was a woman doing the seemingly impossible in order to achieve great things for the country.
And at a time when our dreams for a better future are getting crushed every minute, it is nice to be reminded that there was a courageous person in Gina Lopez who did things in her own little way that ended up grand in scale.
Image credits: ABS-CBN News