It seemed like a small enough matter, but it truly gladdened the heart. That was our item last Monday about Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Alexander Yano forgoing watching the Pacquiao-Diaz fight live last Sunday and settling for a replay instead. The reason for it being that duty called. Duty called in particular in the form of joining US Ambassador Kristie Kenney in distributing relief goods to victims of Typhoon ?Frank.? Some things just couldn?t wait. Some things were just more important than others. Giving food to the hungry or solace to the despairing was one of them.
It was particularly commendable in the light of the ululations we heard last week justifying the relocation of the Batasan complex of the House of Representatives to Las Vegas, with Speaker Prospero Nograles even proposing that the itinerant congressmen?s lieutenants were perfectly capable of taking care of business in their absence. Yano could have used all sorts of excuses, or even sent a deputy to meet up with the US ambassador, given that a fight by Manny Pacquiao had so become a matter of national interest it had sent his own boss scrambling there?and refusing to scramble back despite Frank. But Yano did not. He had a task to do; he did it.
It seems like a simple matter, a thing officials do, or ought to, as a matter of course. But in these times when demonstrations of a sense of proportion, a sense of priority, a sense of duty, a sense of pride, a sense of responsibility toward the people are harder to find than 10 just men in the government, it truly gives something?other than Pacquiao?s victory?to cheer about.
Indeed, there?s a bigger piece of news to be elated about, which is one reason I?ve not yet despaired of this country. That is that almost invisibly we have three very highly placed people in government and the clergy, in State and Church, who are a boon to us. I say almost invisibly because these are not people who like to draw attention to themselves (they have better things to do than spend their waking hours advertising themselves) and so do not mind seeing their good deeds go unnoticed. It is up to us to mind it, and make sure their deeds do get noticed.
Those three are Yano, Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, the head of the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines. Almost single-handedly, they?ve kept the public believing there may be some hope yet in the three institutions that have shown unusual dedication of late to proving themselves hopeless. Those institutions are the Armed Forces, the courts and the Church.
Especially compared to his predecessor, Hermogenes Esperon, who turned the AFP into the private army of his commander-in-chief, after helping her keep residence in the Palace by the River by tinkering with the votes in Tawi-Tawi province and elsewhere in Muslim Mindanao, Yano is a breath of air in a fart-filled room. He seems to enjoy the respect of the foot soldier, and from the looks of it has burnished the words ?duty? and ?honor? in the plaques that hang around the camps in the short time that he has replaced Esperon, which had been caked in mud during the fellow?s watch. If indeed Esperon had not replaced those plaques with ones that extolled the virtues of ?cash? and ?kind.?
While at this, with his appointment as peace commissioner, Esperon adds yet another character to ?bayan ng San Roque,? the place made famous by the folk song about the mute who sang, the lame who danced, the blind who watched and the deaf who listened. Esperon is peacekeeper, Raul Gonzalez is dispenser of justice, Miriam Santiago is the (proposed) international arbiter of law, and Mike Arroyo is a gentleman, a first at that. Well, we also call Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo president.
Puno and Lagdameo are the better known champions of decency in this indecent world. I?ve praised them in the past but don?t mind doing so again (and again). The least Puno has done is to show that not all Punos are rooted in evil, or are the very root of evil; some Punos are lush with branches that offer shade if not bear fruit. The most is to show that like duty and honor, law and justice are not just words to use while being sworn into office, they are principles to live by. Lagdameo for his part is one of the few reasons ?bishopric? still means ?the Church district controlled by a bishop? and not something else. He is also one of the few reasons the faithful remain faithful in this country, despite the determined efforts of their shepherds to lead them astray, if at all they still know the difference between the right path and the wrong one.
These are three people who, despite the hierarchy?s efforts to thwart them, and despite society?s lack of effort to heed them, remain committed to the belief that the AFP exists to defend the weak, the courts exist to give justice to the aggrieved, and the Church exists to exalt the humble and humble the exalted. It?s time we did something about our lack of effort to heed them. I?ve always said that our problem has never been the lack of alternatives, it has always been our lack of ability to see them when they land on our noses. We are easily dazzled by the victory of Pacquiao, we are not awed by the greater victory of an official who attends to duty first before distraction.
If a group can sponsor a meeting of people like Ed Panlilio, Grace Padaca and Jesse Robredo, I don?t know why some other group can?t sponsor a meeting of people like Angel Lagdameo, Reynato Puno and Alexander Yano. For exactly the same reason: The only thing that spreads faster than the contagion of vice is the tenacity of virtue. The only thing that tempts more than the allure of evil is the seduction of good. The more virtue and goodness are bundled together, the more visible?and infectious?they become.
At least there?s always the hope it will.
