The Most Dangerous Human Virtues

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It was in 1967 when for the first time I was personally involved in an election. I was the media officer of Eugenio N. Suarez who was running for mayor against the popular Mayor Rafael Del Rosario. I was invited to join the Suarez’s campaign by his nephew Manuel ‘Lito’Tayag, the eldest son of Renato’Katoks’Tayag, the writer and author of the book The Angeles Story. Katoks was married to Adoracion, sister of Eugenio. It was in that ‘67 hustings where I started to learn the ropes of parochial politics. To cut the story short, Suarez won by a convincing majority and as a prize I was appointed as the head of the city information office. Suarez saw it difficult to govern a city where opposing armed groups, the government’s para-military militias known then as ‘Monkees’ and the dissident groups referred to as the‘Beatles’made virtually the city as their battleground. Because of the breakdown in the peace and order, Suarez was defeated in his re-election bid .

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Rafael Del Rosario Sr. was the last town mayor and the first city mayor of Angeles. He was viewed as left leaning because of his socialist parentage. He was the son of Agapito Del Rosario, the town mayor in 1941 and socialist amazon Felicidad Sicangco. In his time, after defeating his uncle Manuel Abad Santos aka Maning Putot in a hotly contested elections in the late fifties he enjoyed an unprecedented support from every sector. He was responsible for the initial growth of Angeles and under his watch, the town metamorphosed into a metropolitan center.

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Among all who got elected as mayor of Angeles City, it was Rafael Lazatin aka Apung Feleng who never got into controversy. He was a disciplinarian. He made it as a habit to walk from his Barangay San Jose residence to the old city hall building which is less than a kilometer away. He accosted jeepney drivers who were illegally parked. In some days he visited the public markets, the sidewalk vendors would scamper for safety because Apung Feleng always wanted the sidewalks free from obstructing vendors.He was a man of peace. He showed people him being fearless as campaiged alone and pasted his ‘L’stickers with a the drawing of a heart as background. The Angelenos who longed for peace voted him. He emerged the winner, and it was his political rebirth.

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The late Carmelo ‘Tarzan’Lazatin was the only son of Apung Feleng. In his young years, he was carefree and savored the good life. He was good looking, broad shouldered and his chinito eyes attracted many femme fatale. It was his father Apung Feleng who pushed him in the political arena despite his unwillingness.

His first try in politics was in 1980. He failed in that first attempt. He came back In the campaign arena in 1987 with gun a blazing, so to speak. He won in the congressional race and served three uninterrupted terms.

After his stint in the House of Representatives he won as mayor. There were several infrastructure projects he initiated and he was one of the most loved chief executives among government employees. n my previous column, I

shared the first four dangers to human virtue passed on by the great Mohandas K. Gandhi: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, and business without ethics. The last three dangers, science without humanity, religion without sacrifice, and politics without principle are the ones which will be discussed today.

Science without humanity, in my own humble opinion, becomes perilous when scientific and technological advancements equate to harming or jeopardizing the human civilization. On a micro-level, we can see the developments especially in computers and internet as affecting core values and principles, for one is the perennial problem of pornography and cyber prostitution. The easy access of humans, specifically the younger consumers, to pornographic sites without the strict gatekeeping of these sites poses one of the major reasons why teenage pregnancy, abortion, and early marriages continually increase over the past years. The internet also makes it easy for us to retrieve date and information from various sources, and is also the primary reason for the increasing propensity to plagiarize and steal other people’s intellectual property.

The advancements in war technology such as biological and nuclear weapons is one of the biggest threats that our humanity faces in this generation, with more than two dozens of countries worldwide reported to have nuclear power, according to a CNN study. Russia tops the list with an estimated 8240 nuclear warheads, followed by the United States with a total of 7650 nuclear weapons. Other countries included in the CNN report are United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. A single nuclear warhead is believed to be a very powerful weapon as it can wipe out an entire city in an impact.

The sixth danger, religion without sacrifice, I think can be best summarized in a famous OPM song that goes, “Banal na aso, santong kabayo… Natatawa ako hihihi..” Our country is the largest Catholic nation in Asia, and the strong morals have been deeply inculcated in us when Spaniards set foot in our archipelago in the 1500’s. However, as much as we can say that we are devout Catholics, still we cannot see that

we are truly living by the words that are being taught to us from the Bible, which leads me to the last danger, politics without princi pl e.

Our government leaders are the perfect examples for this last dangerous habit, most of them if not all. If we say that politicians should have principles, then our question must be, what are the principles that our leaders should possess?

In answering this question as I write this column, I am at a lost because I cannot name a single person in our government who can serve as an epitome of an upright and principled servant. It is when I came across the 28 Fundamental Principles of the Founding Fathers, with my emphasis on the 3rd principle:

The most promising method of securing a virtuous people is to elect virtuous leaders. "Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who ... will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man."

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Samuel Adams