Contribute to the welfare of your community and promote social justice. You do not live your yourselves and your families alone. You are a part of society to which you owe definite responsibilities

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Part of Code of ethics submitted to the president of the Philippines

Title: Contribute to the welfare of your community and promote social justice. You do not live your yourselves and your families alone. You are a part of society to which you owe definite responsibilities
Language: English
Source: Code of Ethics submitted to the President of the Philippines
Year: 1940
Rights
Fulltext: Marcelo H. de! Pilar was also a mod<;! of indefatigable energy and industry. Fdrced to seek sanctuary in Spain from 'POiitical ' and i·eligious persecution in his native land, without means and thrown upon the generosity of his friends he rolled up his sleeves and cheerfully. braced himself for the task that was to bring him to an early grave. With indo'mitable courage and tenacity, he. faced every difficulty on his way to carry out his mission of propaganda against the abuse, tyranny and conuption of the Spanish ad- · ministration in the P·hilippi;ies. He never knew the meaning of p~ocrastlnation and he never missed -any opportunity to harass . the enemies of his country with hls stinging wit and lashing satire. According to a biograpber, if all his articles, essays and monographs, whether publislied independently or scattered throughout the newspapers and reviews, were gathered together and published in one collection, "they would "make 'at least five or six volumes in quarto, of 400 pag-es each, and would have no equal in the Philippine bibliography. so far as wealth of local and international infor:rhation and serenity and fea1·lessness in journalistic controversy are concerned." When Edilberto Evangelista arrived in tlie Philippines after finishing the civil engineering course in the Ulllversity of Gh7nt, the revolution was already in progre'ss and he lost no time in offering his services to General Aguinaldo. He plunged into the work assigned to him with such ze;t that he was soon promoted to the rank of General and placed in command of th~ Engineer Corps. In the words of a Spanish writer, "he conceived the daring ente1·prise of converting the defenses of Cavite into a single l'edoubt." He built several trenches in different places but he was not able to carry hi•s plans to completion because he fell heroically at the battle of Zapote Bridge on February 17, 1897. But the trench which he built at Binakayan which was three meters wide !'Ind one kilometer long attesteq, to ,his military engineering skill. The Spanisb Army was repulsed here with great losses on November 9, 1896, and when the f~rtificatio,;_ finally fell into the hands of the enemy after the death of Evangelista, the Spanish general after examining it exclaimed; "I am satisfied; because if I did not conquer it then (referring to the attack of iNovember 9th last), I. understand that it is one of those that would check any army." His death was a great loss to the revolutionary army which suffered terrible reverses thereafter. The !Filipino priests who strove for the secularization of the clergy, which struggle incidentally furllished one of the impelling motivati,ons of the revolution, were characterized by their zeal and enthusiasm in th~ir patriotic work. Worthy of special mention was the initiator of the movement, Dr, Pedro Pelaez. His supreme obsession was the Filipinization of the local clergy and when • he died in the earthquake of June 3, 1863, Dr. Jose Burgos carried on his work. As learned as his predecessor, D1-. . Burgos carried the campaign th1·ough the columns of the La Discusi6n, a newspaper published by the Re.gidor brothers. He disdained half-way measures and in br.inging the issue to public no\ tice he was even accused of injecting politics into a purely ecclesiastical affair. ·The enemies of the cause could not rest easy under the tirade of Dr. Burgos' brilliant logic ·until the Cavite Revolt of 1872 furnished the flimsy excuse for liis execution together with Fath~rs Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora. That these classic examples of Filipino initiative, enterprise and loyalty_ to duty may not lapse into futility, it behooves us present-day Filipinos to cultivate these virtties not only for our personal advancement but for the progress and prosperity of our fatherfand as well. Wjthout the will to work, indu•.stry degenerates into drudgery and is no better than slavery. Only by adopting a correct attitude towards our work and giving ourselves wholeheartedly to the proper fulfillment of our duties shall we be able to give full play to whatever talent is given us and justify our existence in this world. In the words of Emilio Jacinto, "Work is a gift to humanity; because it awakens and gives vigor to intellectual power, will, 'and body, which are indispensable for progress in life." XIV CONTRIBUTE TO THE WELFARE OF YOUR COMMUNITY AND PROMOTE SOCIAL JUSTICE. YOU DO NOT LIVE FOR YOURSELVES AND YOUR FAMILIES A,LONE. YOU ARE A PART OF SOCIETY TO WHICH YOU OWE DEFINITE ~ESPONSIBILITIES. The individual lives not for himself and for his family alone. His life is a community life. He has, therefore, larger interests THE 1J0CAL GOVERNMENT R'EVIEW SUPPLEMENT PAGE 21 to serve. He should take interest in the affairs of his government and of the community in which he lives. · Civic conscience is a feeling of responsibility, courage and pride. E:izal said "Man's object is not to satisfy the passions of another man; the object is to seek ha-ppiness for himself and his kind by following the road of progress and perfection." Our Constitution ordains the ''promo, tion of social justice to insure the wellbeing and economic security of all th.e people." (Sec. 5, A1·t. II, Constitution.) Social justice is a vital principle in 'human relationship. It implies square deal and fairness. in our social and economic relations with our fellowmen. It means human sympathy and concern for the welfare of others. It is against exploitation, oppression1 , extortion or plunder. · . Luis R. Yangco shared his profits with his employees in addition to giving them regular 'Salaries. The Reverend Valeriano Malabanan, beloved teacher of Mabini, who left a legacy of cultured and useful citizens to his country, admitted poor students to ~iis school free of charge. In the administration of the Centro Escolar, Lib1·ada Avelino established a reputation for boundless generosity by contribuJ;ing out' of her personal funds to the education of poor but deserving students. It is our duty to help in the promotion of social justice so that every Filipjno may have the opportunity to acquire, through toil, his necessities in food, clothing and shelter, together with reasonable comforts, and a leisure which will permit cultural self-improvement and a participation in the blessings of an enlightened, civilization. xv CULTIVATE THE HABIT OF USING GOODS MADE IN THE PHILIPPINES. PATRONIZE THE PRODUCTS AND TRADES OF YOUR COUNTRYMEN. It is important that we develop ~ur local industries with the aim in view of diminishing our imports, retaining our wealth withi1 n the confines of our country and increasing the earning capacity of our people. Enterprising men and women have heeded this call to develop domestic production, and as a result, factories have sprung up fa our 1 towns, and even in the barrios we witness . the expansion of household industries. But unless we patronize their products, the efforts of these men and women are doomed to failure. We should coopei-ate in the building up of our national economy and where we can not actively produce we should at least, as1 a matter of patriotic duty, buy locally-made products in preference to im. ported' goods. ... Roman Ongpin, whose love for things Filipfoo was ·so ardent that throughout 'his ~vh~le lifetime he wore no other garment than the 'simple barong' tagalog, on his deathbed asked his children to dress his body in Filipino apparel. Lorenzo Guerrero was required to wear a European coat on the occasion of the award to him by the Spanish Government, of the medal of civil merit for services rendered during the cholera epidemic of 1882, but he declined to obey the order, saying: "Let them pin the medal on my pechem (Filipino dress). Why, isn't my !Filipino .shirt worthy to wear a medal as any European coat?" Rizal realized the necessity of patronizing the trades of our countrymen as a means of insul'ing 10ur econo"mic advancement. During his exile at Dapitan, in order to. supplement his medical practice which, although extensive. , was not remunerative enough because most of his patients were poor, he established a co1nmercial house for the purpose of offering competition to the Chinese who monopolized the i·etail trade in Mindanao as elsewhere in the Philpipines. His letter to Blumefitritt, dated August 29, J 894, describes his venture as follows: "Here I )have become half physician, half merchant. I have fol!nded a commercial firm 'here. I have taught the poor inhabitants of Mindanao to unite and engage in commerce so that they may become independent a:nd free themselves from the Ohine'Se and thus be less exploited. But I have to talk much to the local Governor who, in spite of being a good man, is, however, in favor of the Chinese. and he prefers the Mongols to the inhabitants of Mindanao. Fortunately, ' the company is prospe1·ing; we gain something, and the poor people of Dapitan become active and contented." PAGE. 22 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT REVIEW SUPPLEMENT
pages: 21-22