Gina Lopez, 65

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri says Lopez "has always been a good friend of every Filipino, rich and poor, and a real warrior for the conservation, protection of the environment."

He adds he admires her "very much."

He says "she brought her environmental activism into every Filipino home in her travels around our beautiful archipelago."

"She never shirked from a real patriot's duty to say the truth," Zubiri says. "This was often evident when environmental destruction caused by irresponsible mining and other forms of over-extraction of natural resources was at issue."

Zubiri was a member of the congressional Commission on Appointments that rejected her appointment as Environment secretary. According to an ABS-CBN infographic on CA voting, Zubiri did not vote in her favor.

Fisherfolks' group Pamalakaya says the fishing sector mourns Lopez's passing, adding she was "a staunch environmental advocate who stood with the people in our fight against large-scale mining, reclamation, and other destructive, profit-driven activities."

The fishing sector mourns the passing of former environment secretary Gina Lopez, a staunch environmental advocate who stood with the people in our fight against large-scale mining, reclamation, and other destructive, profit-driven activities. pic.twitter.com/sbWPalTwSW

— Pamalakaya Pilipinas (@pama_pil) August 19, 2019

Environmental coalition Alyansa Tigil Mina calls Lopez a "bastion of environmental activism, and a source of hope and inspiration for many communities and organizations that had the opportunity to work and be served by her."

"For ten months as DENR secretary, ma'am Gina did the unthinkable – ordering the conduct of a mine audit, cancelling the mining contracts or suspending the operations of 26 mining projects and issuing new policies that ensure the mining industry is up to international standards on transparency and disclosures," it says.

It notes that Lopez was special, since, citing an unnamed labor leader, "it is rare to have an oligarch wage a battle against her own class."

ATM adds: "Her values were unwavering. It was always personal for her, because the advocacies for her were all about people’s lives.  How can it not be personal, when you know that this destruction will impact other people and especially the next generation?"

"Gina fought with everything she had against big polluters," Sen. Risa Hontiveros says in a social media post.

"She’ll always be remembered that way: as a fighter whose legacy will  be remembered by many," she also says.

Rep. Sarah Elago (Kabataan party-list), in a separate post, describes Lopez as "a passionate and feisty environmental defender whose work against destructive mining forms huge steps towards dismantling of plunder and exploitation of our natural resources and labor."

Lopez was among the "progressive" appointees of President Rodrigo Duterte whom the Makabayan bloc had hoped would be confirmed by the comgressional Commission on Appointments.

Former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, a passionate environmentlist before and after her stint in government, has succumbed to brain cancer at the age of 65.

She had been an outspoken champion of social and environmental causes in the Philippines, which include the rehabilitation of the Pasig River and nearby urban streams. Her efforts resulted to the cleanup of at least 17 tributaries in the Pasig river system.

Lopez also spearheaded a campaign to save La Mesa watershed, a once-neglected area containing the last remaining rainforest of its size in Metro Manila, which provides potable water to its 12 million residents.

Later renamed La Mesa Ecopark in 2004, the area is now a tree-lined park where urban dwellers can hike, fish and ride mountain bikes or horses.