Let us conveniently put it thus – responsibility that is personal ends, when responsibility that is governmental begins. If that convenience is agreed, then we can proceed to discuss what government responsibility is from the other which is embraced by not few of us as apparently the single best solution to better our lives, to inject hope in our future, and to probably anaesthetize our pains.
This emerging theme has apparently been built on whether we should blame government than blame ourselves, or vice versa. Some of us would rather blame ourselves and thereby espouse personal responsibility. Some however still see that the ball is in the other court and thereby espouse government R. So where do we want to pitch tent? Still, some others would think of both coming into play.
Assuming how well we already understand personal responsibility, we then have to shift focus on government R – is there really such a thing given our typical state of affairs? Offhand, there sure is, one way or other. A purely Marxist bias will tend to dictate on reason that since we pay our taxes, we should get the services, the goods even. And who get them by way of social safety nets? As who don’t get any at all?
That drives us a bit to the concept of social justice which seems to be where government R ought to revolve around. We are constrained of giving examples how government R comes into play. Our views can be eclipsed by cheap if sweeping counter-arguments. But I will have Nick in mind and I take heed, nonetheless for opening us to this world that places all things governmental or personal under the knife.
In short, we love to discuss, debate with the end in view of elevating the level of discourse some notches higher than one can found them in other forums or blogs, or so we think. Candidly, some minds in FV think of replacing PDI in this mode – at the speed of light. Honestly, one can have reservation that it can be done. Besides, I don’t, as a rule, read the PDI. That sounds more like Renato, does it? Know this guy?
Going back, government R has been defined in a lot of varied ways that it might just be culture bound. Welfare states probably knew it better than we do. Modern societies perhaps knew it better than we do. The First World knows where it speaks from. In other words, we tend to blame government than we blame ourselves precisely because we never had it so good.
Personal R operates at gut level. It cannot redeem those who find themselves with no food on the table, no medicines to cure illness, no job to find, no income to derive and so on. Thus, one always tends to government R for much-needed redemption. And is government responsible enough or should it be, to begin with? Is government a food-giver? Is government a doctor? Is government a placement agency? Is government a welfare state where one can receive state subsidies? Hell, nope.
We then have to revert back to personal R.
This is so because in the end, the only role of government R is to promote social justice and not a work in care-giving. Government simply has to make sure of giving unto every man the social justice that it promotes.
Ryan Messmore wrote an interesting article titled, “My neighbor’s keeper? Rethinking Responsibility and the Role of Government” in which he says that it is only when we ourselves failed to provide for our own needs that government R comes into the scene. But that again is open to a lot of criticism – dissected further.
We shall not make the mistake of looking at government as a ‘parent, doctor, or friend’ – it may never be. Instead, government is simply an ‘institution of public justice’. How sadly then did Messmore state thus, “government R is not to do good whenever good can be done to somebody, but to act when injustice would otherwise ensue”. In short, let us totally abandon any conception of a caring parent, a caring doctor, a caring friend.
Is this the place we find ourselves in?
Without contradicting Messmore, there simply are areas beyond our control where government could have taken a bit more responsible role, if only it did. As taxpayers, we simply pray for one thing – that our taxes go back to us and not being siphoned off by ‘unabashed’ acts of corruption in the very agency or officialdom where this trust is reposed. If that be too much for the asking, then I have to dream to be a parent, a doctor, a friend.
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“When personal R ends, government R begins”
You know what, I agree with what you are saying.
Where personal responsibility ends, government responsibility begins.
Totally agree.
Trouble is the capacity for personal responsibility of Filipinos is VERY SMALL.
And that is why, our capacity to pass responsibility to Government is VERY BIG.
It’s simple, really™ :D
iT’S easier to blame the govrnment than us!!!!
Primer,
Go ahead then, wait for this “responsible” government to materialize to save the people.
I will not contradict you.
It is in my best interest that more and more of you believe in this nonsense, really.
See you at Starbucks :)
Primer: You are missing that ever-attractive special flavor of “personal-R” — the personal-Responsibility of the rich.
Surely JoMa had said It is a crime that so many are rich when there are so many poor.
The poor is entitled to receive help from the rich, like Abe Margallo’s mantra that Gokongwei should be forced to invest, not in shopping malls, but in job-creating enterprises like computer-chip-manufacturing or gun factories.
LOL
If you can just wait, UP n, what you proposed can be the subject of another blog.
So thanks.
For benigno. I have no reason to think otherwise. But just to add, sometimes, smallness or bigness, is actually relative and this is what probably led UP n to ask for ‘personality responsibility of the rich, which means actually that as consumers in a highly mercantilist world, we should sometimes enjoy ‘patronage refund’.
There’s also professional responsibility. People in profession such as the people practicing in public service is expected to be professionally responsible according to their duty. Legally, when people pays them for service, the rule of law says that it has a legal duty to perform, implement all services required for the public. Could it be that professional responsibility in public service does not exist? Look at “traffic” for example, which government agencies are expected to perform, implement and provide rules and regulations so that people can obey in traffic? Traffic is a problem. The people in charge are expected to be professionally responsible. What should the department of transpo do to solve the issue and be socially responsible? Among them , how many are professionaly responsible?
Are the many Mang Juans work for this department? NO. So why demand from mang juan to be personally responsible when the traffic signs are not in placed?
correction:
Are the many Mang Juans work for this department? NO. So why demand from mang juan to be personally responsible when the traffic signs and the departments expected duty to be professionally responsible are not in placed?
we cannot generalize and assume that its the fault of many mang Juans. Try to breakdown the theory and practice and apply the concept to every government sector and departments. Professionalism is a legal duty while in public service. When duties are performed professionally , it may provide the public its fair share.
and primer… there is also what the Pinoy youth are entitled to get from Pinas elementary schools, high-schools and colleges, namely that every Pinoy and Pinay has the right to an education that makes the Pinas youth to be world-class competitive for jobs here and abroad.
As Renato would have it: Flips R’ Us.
Personal Responsibility is easier said than done. When jobs are scarce, one third of the population is below the poverty line, and massive corruption is at play. Poverty is the absence of choice.
Big Government has to be. Call it PSP: Perpetual Stimulus Package.
The 2004 Election had the following outcome:
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo – 39.99 %
Fernando Poe, Jr. – 36.51 %
Panfilo Lacson – 10.88 %
Raul Roco – 6.45 %
Eduardo Villanueva – 6.16 %
Poverty results from making poor choices.
Inability to learn the lessons can lead to an absence of choice.
If the voters demand for crooks, the supply will be met, easily.
That was not our choice. GMA chose herself…
Binay in Makati, UP n, started steps in that direction – free education up to college, if true.
Phil,
No one minds if we are flips because we really are if flips means “funny little island people”.
Besides, no one has yet confirmed whether indeed GMA now has this PSP since anything of such nature requires approval of Congress.
As to professional responsibility, we probably have to shift our glance on whether the Commission on Audit does what it needs to do – audit the way public expenditures are being administered.
The Flips are friendly…
Binay in Makati, UP n, started steps in that direction – free education up to college, if true.
Yeah, but how did Binay get to become Mayor?
Voted for by Somalians?
bong,
Spokesperson for UP n?
Young man, don’t let your adrenalin crush you all too quickly.
Please if you have to dance, go with the tune. You are not about careful in your analysis bong. The crux of the matter is whether or not there is in Makati a free education.
If there is, then that is just the bone of contention. And the beauty of it, whether or not Binay had been voted by the Somalians, such free education program will live past their time.
You don’t pretend to know Binay, do you?
Primer:
Government provides for free education at the elementary and high school levels – get your facts straight BEFORE you put on your music.
Let me ask you, how did Binay get into office so he can implement his programs? Vote for himself?
You want analysis – do a program flowchart of the process, create the sequence of activities in chronological order.
Do you drive your car without turning the power on. CHRONOLOGICAL order? Should I describe what CHRONOLOGICAL order means?
The venerable wiki says: Chronology (from Latin chronologia, from Ancient Greek χρόνος, chronos, “time”; and -λογία, -logia) is a chronicle or arrangement of events in their time order of occurrence. General chronology is the science of locating and resolution of temporal sequence of past events in time
Chronology is part of periodization. It is also part of the discipline of history including earth history and geochronology dependent disciplines (See Prehistoric chronologies below) and the earth sciences. When used for specific examples, a chronology is a sequential arrangement of events, such as a chronicle or, particularly when involving graphical or literary elements, a timeline.
Let’s create a sequence of events .
Did Binay magically become mayor of Makati allowing him to implement free education? How did he get there? Genie? Aswang? Magic Dragon? Jeep? Jet?
to Primer: Did you find it irritating or did you think there were nuggets of wisdom in that Gokongwei speech where he basically said “…. it has been a great trial (world war 2, pushing the pushcart, competition and all), but I got rich (really rich) because I worked for it!”
forget what I asked.
I dont believe it…
If we talk about personal responsibility and government responsibility. We go to a gray area. Not black or white. Democracy
is government by the people, of the people and for the people. We
elect people to serve us. What happen here is: if what we
elected becomes “bulakbol”, corrupts and even virtual dictators.
These elected officials, and the people they appoint for positions are our employees. We are the employers. They are there to serve us.
Not to rule over us. We pay their salaries by our taxes.
So, we have the full rights as employers to terminate them, if we dont like their services.
We sure all share a dream.
Our employees are going loco. They go to Office only 3 times a week, they get a fat check doing almost nothing to impact upon our lives, they run corporate RP like a fanatical fraternity, they all have this mafiosi mentality (immune from the police, the court, the Commission on Audit), et cetera, et cetera.
The World Bank always sees through this malaise but then again, our employees do not confront the issues with a high sense of personal responsibility all because they think they are the government and government responsibility is limited only to the promotion of social justice.
The government is not a parent, not a doctor, not a friend.
By the way UP n, I got your point.
So, your employees are not performing and have been stealing, and you haven’t FIRED them?
According to tasio, we should terminate their services.
However, we can only do so, every after 3 years, not sooner or later. In the meantime, it’s nothing but a “devils’ workshop”.