An official of the Catholic Church has called on Filipinos to stop using plastic bags.

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines National Secretariat for Social Action chairman and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo issued the call for a ban on plastic bags, noting their negative impact on the environment.

Pabillo cited the case of the butanding (whale shark) that was found dead in Manila Bay last week, with water pollution as the possible cause of its death.

“Our lives are intertwined with one another. We should be aware that whatever we do, such as when we throw garbage, will also affect others,” he said.

“We don’t really know how the nails and plastics found their way inside the fish’s stomach. It’s possible that the fish ate them in another place like Mindanao and it only died here,” added Pabillo.

This, he said, should be enough to move the people to change their lifestyle.

“This calls for a change of lifestyle. Part of that change in lifestyle is the non-usage of plastic,” Pabillo said.

Instead of plastic bags, the prelate urged the people to bring their own bags or use paper bags as these are more environment-friendly.

“Let us avoid using plastic as well as styrofoam because we can’t recycle these things,” said Pabillo.