Moral recovery programs?

Of late, there have been calls for moral recovery or reform programs aimed particularly at government workers. A clear offshoot of the ZTE hullabaloo, these calls emanated from Congress through former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and from President Arroyo herself, the very focus of the controversy.

These calls sounded hollow, of course for certain reasons. On the deposed Speaker’s initiative, the general reaction has been, why only now? He and the President have been lovey-dovey political partners for years, the reason why in the impeachment moves filed last year against PGMA, JDV had been her guardian angel. But that was before son Joey disturbed the balance. Now it’s bloodline against bloodline with JDV thrown outside the clubhouse.

That one hour “of pamoyboy” in the evening of the showdown revealed the shallowness of JDV’s moral trumpeting. The reason: When their agenda ran a parallel course, all was quiet in the political front. But when these bisected each other mutual loyalties went haywire. All told, JDV’s moral posturing has no clout because even as it reveals the perceived venalities of PGMA’s governance it also tangentially indicted the Johnny-come-lately stance of the self-proclaimed moral crusader.

But PGMA’s call is worse. It’s comparable to a housewife who, seeing her house on fire, swears to herself to conduct a fire safety forum instead of directly fighting the fire. For how could one who has been perceived as the initiator of corruptions, rally others to fight corruptions?

If the President is sincere in her moral exhortation, one possible conclusion is that she does not know what’s going on around her, which is a tragic thing to say of the leader of the land. If she is just making a “palabas” to gain pogi points, then she could be accused of hypocrisy of the highest level.

As the moral road show goes on so does the blame game. All accusing eyes are now turned towards the Pasig Office – institutional eyes such as those of churchmen and businessmen, and private eyes such as those of professionals and commoners.

But where are the eyes that look at one self? In the affairs of character appraisal, the hardest thing to do is to look at oneself. And yet it is the first call of the morally alive sensibility. What does Jesus say of this? “How can you say to your brother: ‘Brother, let me take this speck out of your eye’ when you can’t remove the log in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the log from your own eye and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Each one of us who are spewing brimstone against the President and her cohorts should reflect seriously on these words. Do we have the moral ground to call her “evil” or corrupt? Have we not done, or are we not doing, something outside the confine of what is decent and right?

If we are an ordinary citizen, have we not cheated on our income tax returns? Or thrown away scraps and detritus indiscriminately? Or jaywalked on streets? Or talked against other people?

If we are a government functionary, have we not asked others to punch our DTR for us to avoid deductions? Or squandered office time by indulging in idle talks? Or used office supplies for personal ends? Or submitted fabricated medical certificates? Or bloated our per diem claims? Or claimed more hours for overtime?

If we are on small business activities, have we not fixed our weighing scales? Or short changed our customers? Or over-priced our goods? Or are we issuing receipts for purchases?

If we are on big business, have we not filed incorrect tax returns? Have we not padded our workers’ payrolls? Or refused to pay their benefits? Or delayed SSS remittances? Or delayed payment of salaries?

If we are a churchman, how do we stand as a moral exemplar? Have we not spent part of our collections for purely personal needs? What about contributions for parish projects, have we not misspent portions of these? Feed my flock, says Jesus. Have we done this? Be merciful, the Lord also said. But why won’t some of us bless the dead of the very poor without paying first the fee?

Alas, we are all sinners. Our sins may be small ones, unlike the million-dollar sins of ZTE deal makers. But these are sins just the same. Just the same they stain our souls.

Any calls for moral reformation are therefore calls to reflect on who we are and what we have done. If we holler these to the four winds, or worse, magnify our voice towards those who we perceive are the wrong-doers we are only wasting our time.

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