WHY ETHICS?

Ethics is a much maligned philosophical concept. It is not given much emphasis at schools, nor in reality, especially in the world of business. When business owners do their business, they are supposed to check if their practices affect the other people's activities, or if they harm the environment, or get to destroy their properties. The construction business is very vulnerable to charges of malpractices actually, from noise, to air to environmental pollution in general.

In the academic field, who would be the guilty ones? The guards who act as if they own the school. I entered a university recently and the guard asked me where I was going. I asked if there was a xerox store and he said "none" and that it was located outside. So I told him, “You are lying.”

How could that guard be accepted in an academic institution when all academes are supposed to teach honesty, truthfulness, and how to be a humane being?

What is the next ethical subject that needs to be emphasized? Teachers should not hide important ideas from students. Some though become so tired of teaching that they forget there are some ideas that still need to be expounded on to the students. And so they graduate students who are half-baked.

For example, at UP, a teacher gave us 1970's old research articles. And it was already 1992 at that time, wherein the topic was already so advance that his articles were completely outdated and irrelevant. Did you know that he gave me a grade of 1.75 while other students who hardly squeaked over his ignorance of developments in the world education got 1.5 and 1.25? I charged him legally at the UP Legal Department with discrimination. Nothing happened. The lawyer with whom I was in touch resigned from his job, I had found out later on. 

Then he even said that he gave me a low grade because I did not attend the trip to the Emilio Aguinaldo Research Science and Technology School, during the semester I was enrolled in his class, ironically, Sociology of Education, despite the fact that I had gone to Beijing to attend the International Gathering of Women to celebrate the end of another UN Decade for Women and where I had represented my organization, Makabayang Kababaihan ng Masa or MAKAMASA, whose literacy experiences for urban poor women I had written about.

Folks, that's UP in the 90's.

The most recent experience I had had with UP was when I asked the UP College of Law and the National Center for Public Governance or NCIPAG if they knew any Marawi donations accepting depot or the phone number of VP Leni Robredo to whom I would just deliver the goods.

Folks, nada. The academe is not the best place for such an information for asking the accession number of the second highest position of the land. Anyway, I was able to access it when I called up the Senate office of Risa H. My goodness, I had to go round and round just to get it. By the way, I also called the office of Sec Andanar whose people gave me wrong numbers to contact. In one, I was answered by the photo section. In another by the executive director's office who did not bother to look for the number but instead told me that that is not the office for me to ask. She was the one who gave me the number which turned out to be the photo section. 

BEING HELPFUL. As a governing body, all agencies have to be helpful. Helpful to every citizen whether they are asking for information or real help for some emergency.

The library, a repository of old and latest books, magazines and newspapers must be open to all sorts of queries. I deposited my newspaper articles (xeroxed) to the office of the director of the UP Main Library many years ago. I had wanted the younger generations to read them as examples of using the media to question iniquities in public governance, under my column, “Equal Quest” in the Business World; “Unliktao (Unlad, Likas, Tao)” in the Philippine Post; and “Serimbar” in the Chronicle.

Horror of horrors, when I looked in the index cards and in the OPAC, where a listing of available resources were supposed to be there, I could not find a single article of mine, except for the books that have been displayed there for years and years like Feminist Objectives in the Third World and Other Writings(1983), Economic Refugees: Voyage of the Commoditized (1985); Serimbar, Feminist Reflections (1996) ; and Towards Our Own Image:Cinema(1985). I was really very disappointed but later on, I was told that the articles had been placed under the Archives which were not listed in the index boxes nor the OPAC.

Ergo, only true-blue blooded researchers who have the guts and untiring efforts to search would find my political writings there. Last time I complained about this, I had been told that the office of the Chancellor would look into the matter.

But I have grown wiser. I contacted the Department of Library Science under Dean Kate Obille and they are very open about my papers. 

Where is Ethics a valuable subject to be learned? In the Kindergarten, the grades K to 12, and in College. Children as young as 5 years old must learn not to grab the toys of other classmates; nor use his or her fist when someone rejects his/her pleas or requests for sharing a toy.

A child must also learn to give truthful information. Did you see that TV advert about a child who looked away when he saw his parent lying to a visitor? I think that was a very good ad which should not be taken away but should be aired not and then.

In a neighborhood, a child was asked where his parents were, and he answered they were asleep. At another time, they were away. Those are lies because I checked with the parents later on.

Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. What is accepted as proper etiquette may not necessarily be ethical. In terms of etiquette we must show deference to older people. Ethically, we must consider and respect their condition all the time at all places and situations. 

I recall now, A party was held in celebration of the anniversary of a school. I was asked by a staff in the institution to pose in a photograph with a former First Lady known for her extravagance. I demurred and left the room. To the hosts of that institution, I was disrespectful. But I could not accept the fact that she and her family was responsible for tearing away the most fruitful years of my life, spent visiting political detention centers.

Was that ethically correct? In terms of right and wrong, I was right to feel that way. Maybe I was wrong the way I had acted but it was a spur of the moment and I could not contain myself at that time. 

In the field of governance, I think that the most ethical concept that has to be learned by anyone serving in the government is that their positions are not personal possessions. They are just occupying those posts in order to be most effective in touching the lives of the people.

To serve is almost a mantra. Every morning when they wake up, I would suggest to the government people to pray and meditate that their day will be valuable and fruitful for the people they serve and that they would always wear a smile and be accommodating of queries and requests for help.

Painting by Picasso, Etude de Personnages