ILIGAN CITY – Devastated last year and early this year by floods, residents of Northern Mindanao picked environment protection rather than security and illegal drugs as their most pressing concern.

This preference surfaced in a survey made by Konsult Mindanaw of the Bishops-Ulama Conference among 5,000 residents who took part in the 300 focus group discussions held since April last year.

Participants to the survey, dubbed the Community-Based Consultations and Dialogue, were from the Muslim, Christian, and Lumad communities of Region 10 which is composed of the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon and the urban cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

The survey was conducted to determine the people’s sentiments about peace, their opinions about the ongoing peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and how they thought a settlement could be reached.

Northern Mindanao’s regional findings yielded a clear concern for the environment. Under the security category of the question, “What is your vision of peace”, protection of the environment was listed on top of freedom from fear and a drug-free society.

“Environmental protection is an urgent call,” said Linda Tawagon, president of Dansalan College in Marawi City and concurrent member of Konsult Mindanaw.

“All of us can do something to protect our environment. If we have not done our part yet, now is the time. Unless we act now, we may wake up one day to find our Mother Earth no longer habitable,” Tawagon stressed.

Flashfloods exacerbated by illegal logging have recently dominated headlines in Northern Mindanao for wrecking a swath of destruction in the region, leaving scores of dead and missing villagers.

Early this year, heavy rains and floods displaced some 5,000 families in Gingoog City and 13 towns in Misamis Oriental after days of rainfall swept Bukidnon and caused the Cagayan River to overflow, triggering floods in 10 barangays of Cagayan de Oro City.

Disaster and relief authorities pegged the number of displaced families in Cagayan de Oro, Gingoog, El Salvador and Iligan City at 9,000 people.

The floods prodded civil society groups and political leaders to come together to address the problem.

The destruction prodded the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro to hold a Bishops-Legislators Forum on Environmental Concerns led by Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos of Butuan and Bishop Edwin de la Pena of Marawi to come up with recommendations to avert further environmental threats.