Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao, Chairman, Institute for Solidarity in Asia
Every six years, we are asked to elect the President who would be at the helm of our nation’s public affairs. Since a few Presidential candidates put themselves forward, there has to be a “division of the nation”, so to speak, in the same manner that we speak about a “division of the house” when a vote has to be taken. Thus, at a time when we have to pause and reflect on our choice of the next President of our Republic, it is easy to forget about the values that unite us. These values we should always keep on our radar screens, since all too often we think and act as a sorely divided nation. In fact, there is too much division in our land, not only during the election season when we consider several Presidential candidates, but also during the long period in between elections.
It would do us a great deal of good, as a nation, to remember and pay close, continuing attention on the things that unite us rather than on the many issues that divide us. Among the most basic unifying elements that bind us and bring us together are our shared values as a people.
What might these be?
In many gatherings, when we Filipinos pause and reflect on the ideals we aspire towards and which we hope are the values that we all can share with one another, two core values come up at the very top. The first is love of God; and the second is respect for the dignity of each person. The first one comes as no surprise: it is first, and in the minds of many Filipinos, it should be first. But the second one comes as a pleasant surprise. Given where we are coming from, with a long history of a feudal culture, which we are only gradually shedding, respect for the dignity of each person, no matter what a person’s station in life may be, is to be sure an ideal, but one which is often referred to as “too idealistic” in the sense that it is “too high and too up-there”. A surprise it may be, nonetheless, it is a very pleasant one: that it should be mentioned immediately after “love of God”.
Next come good governance and responsible citizenship. This two-some necessarily complements and mutually reinforces each other. One may say that one can not go very far without the other. Experience tells us that it is unrealistic for us to expect good governance unless we throw in responsible citizenship as its essential partner. No surprise here, considering what many of us have been complaining about and crying out to the highest heavens for.
Commitment to a culture of excellence, discipline and integrity comes naturally as a consequence. In our land, we face the challenge of rising above mediocrity, disorder, lack of system, and grime in many facets of our national life. Many of the vociferous complaints we hurl against each other, governors and governed alike, can be traced to the low standards of performance, operating systems, professionalism and honesty within both the public and private sectors. We do need to face up to those complaints, and it is high time that we commit to much higher standards that we actually observe in all aspects of life in our country.
In addition to cleaning up, we also have the additional challenge of improving and further enriching our environment—starting with the physical aspect, and therefore with our natural environment—as well as our culture. We have, for instance, so many beautiful elements of our culture; we should be proud of them. Moreover, we can build on them to reach even greater heights, where we can contribute even more positively to the enrichment of our national life as well as to the betterment of the wider world around us. Responsible stewardship in the preservation and enrichment of our environment and culture is a call to positive action, based on responsibility for what we have inherited and what we have been endowed with.
These five core values can be worded differently, depending on the group of Filipinos who come together and reflect on the foundations upon which we should base our efforts to further build and develop our nation. They capture, however, many of the ideals that many of us—perhaps the great majority of us—would like to uphold as we look at the many decades ahead, and work towards strengthening our republic, improving our nation in all key facets of life in our land, and developing our people by bestowing on them the genuine blessings of peace and progress.
Manila, January 14, 2010
from his column “Swimming Against the Current,”
Manila Bulletin
