High school was a time for Counterstrike. We sneaked past the guard, or even scaled the low walls surrounding the perimeter of the school, just so that we can play in one of these pang-aliw “tournaments” to determine who’s the better shot with a mouse and keyboard. Of course, when you get caught – or if you have the temerity to go back to class after you “boycotted” it anyway, you have a lot of explaining to do.
Which brings us to a game of hooky played at the Senate, in this news report; apparently, DENR Secretary Lito Atienza failed to show up at the Senate floor to defend his department’s share of the national budget. Sec. Atienza’s dog-ate-my-homework response at a Malacañang press conference was rather interesting:
I consider it as a responsibility. Manny was facing the most important fight in his career and of course, my worry was what will happen to our country if Manny loses… I think the two should not be compared. The budget hearing is important. Manny is also important. You cannot belittle the importance or value of what Manny gives to the country.
With all due respect to Sec. Atienza, a simple “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again” would have been fine. I know from experience that if you play hooky on your high school Chemistry class, your teacher will pretty much accept your honest apology. Yet since we have a tendency to raise eyebrows on an apology, Sec. Atienza had to go the distance a bit too far… and well, reflect a lot about the priorities of This Government.
As a taxpayer, I’m not begrudging Sec. Atienza of his right to watch a boxing match. The problem here lies not in his preferences in hobbies or sports, but that he watched the Manny Pacquiao-Oscar de la Hoya bout when he was supposed to be at the Senate defending the budget of his department.
I’m not an expert in government affairs or anything, but:
- If you’re a public official – elected or appointed – when you’re supposed to be in a session or a meeting, you don’t postpone that in favor of your hobbies or your interests. The fact that you were voted or appointed to serve the public means that your hobbies and interests (golf, malling, boxing, or perhaps even your incredible penchant for collecting gallons of liquid fertilizer) should take a back seat to matters of public interest. That includes, but is not limited to, deliberations on your department’s budget.
- If you’re a public official, your actions are almost always determined – whether you’re punching in the daily time record or you’re out in public – by your official title, functions, and duties. You’re a public servant first, and therefore you should always choose things that concern the national interest and the greater good. In this case, the interest of boxing fans is second banana to concerns about pollution, illegal logging, strip mining, garbage, and everything else.
- You cannot belittle the importance or value of what the budget of your department – in this case, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – gives to the country. You can fulfill your obligations to your very important friend – in this case, Manny Pacquiao – by watching the bout on television, listening to it on the radio, or watching a live stream on the Internet.
If anything, a lot of the problems we have in governance and politics in this country are not caused by complicated clauses in the Constitution, but by a very broad concept of “corruption.” If by “corrupt” we mean the failure to exercise your duties to the best of your abilities, then we can say a lot for those councilors who sponsor two-ball bingo (hmmm…). Or for mayors who make kickbacks from questionable activities. For members of the House who absent themselves from important and critical decision-making processes whether they chair committees or not.
Yes, even for Presidents who don’t explain their questionable actions and decisions in the most transparent way possible. In this case, for Cabinet members who have extremely important jobs to do, and still put importance on becoming cornermen for our boxing icons. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you’re not being called to the Senate to defend your department’s budget. It’s something so simple, yet so complicated,
In a word: responsibility. I hope that these are not things derived from “expert knowledge,” or come across as koan-like statements. So to speak.
Of course, our Chemistry teacher didn’t allow us to take the long quiz on those anion-cation things because we played Counterstrike. I don’t know what they do in the Senate, but I hope a twenty-something’s 12-paragraph “reprimand” would do something. But hey, what do I know…
Then again, that’s another story.
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Another great blog. Simple but it delivers the point of Time Management, Ethics, Behavior at Work, Professionalism, Integrity, Honesty, Reliability and Credibility.
To change one’s attitude requires a penalty. Penalty must come from two sides: from the people such as the consistent article writings from the media and all the bloggers with emphasis to that person. At least a week of sensational demand to make aware that such attitude is no longer acceptable in our current society.
The other side of penalty should come from the rules and regulations of this department. What are those rules? or Does it exist? If it does, why is it not implemented? The penalty of Tardiness , laziness, manana habit must be implemented. Being late is a sign of abuse of power.
That’s why I keep wondering why so much pompous verbosity is devoted to quibbling about trivialities in our Constitution and in the comings and goings of our politicians. Even in the way the Average Pinoy Schmoe conducts himself, there already exists a DEEPLY ENTRENCHED ETHIC of going about things THE WRONG WAY as I mentioned earlier:
We get in wrong even in the simplest of things.
From the humble jeepney driver to the presumably competent “expert” the underlying philosophy DOES NOT VARY:
Basta maka-lusot.
If painting traffic lanes on roads, putting up signs and signal lights at interesections, scribbling “bawal umihi dito” on walls, and ringing a vacant lot with barbed wire do not prevent AVERAGE PINOYS from…
:o swerving;
:o queueing across intersections;
:o urinating and defecating in public; and,
:o building shacks on other peoples’ properties;
… then WHO ARE WE to expect our politicians to behave in a decent manner?
A society that has turned its storm drainage systems into sewers, made “Merry Christmas” sound like a veiled extortion threat, institutionalised ocho-ocho “revolutions”, elevated absentee-parenteeism into its economy’s prime mover, and clean-shaved its islands into a brown barren patch of overpopulated volcanic islands, certainly has LOTS to reflect on.
“If painting traffic lanes on roads, putting up signs and signal lights at interesections, scribbling “bawal umihi dito” on walls, and ringing a vacant lot with barbed wire do not prevent AVERAGE PINOYS from…”
good point but maybe you should not go beyond and blame the society.
Rule: bawal ang umihi dito.
“huh? juan look around to see where he could go. After 10 minutes , Juan said, wtf, I’m peeing here. :) hahaha”
you see benigno… it’s not about filipino. I will beg to differ :)
people will only stop if there’s a replacement of “doon ka umihi”.
Replacement, Alternative, Options are the role of our policymaker/public servant.
Highway: Under construction sign , replace with detour.
Close : Open Combination: If rule of law is only to benefit the “Close” without “Open”.. where’s simple justice?
Juan will continue and will ignore the sign and probably will invite more Juanssss…
It’s simply, really :)
lito atienza? Ex-manila mayor? geez, nakakahiya…
Ethics is a sham in this country. But the question is, what do we do about it? More laws? Hm, a bloody revolution? because come to think of it, corruption in this country spreads by example. A high official does it first, gets away with it, then in a decade or so everybody is doing it.
Here, we could see how Ex-mayor/DENR Secretary does his job. Probably, his bet was greater than DENR’s would be budget..just maybe..who knows..
Imagine, Manny was able to box and win without Jinkee (his wife) and his kids, but Atienza seems to think that Manny would definitely lose if he was not there personally! Just shows you what this guy thinks of himself.
And so what if he loses? Will the whole country go up in flames?
nice post, subscribed your rss feed. cya as I’m interested in forex trading