Read this article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer about a Filipino domestic helper fro Nueva Vizcaya returning cash and cheques worth $2.1M she found in a garbage can in Hong Kong.
Because of that, she is going to be given commendation for her honesty by congress and she would receive the commendation from Speaker of the House Prospero Nograles.
She will also receive P150,000 from Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla and the Nueva Vizcaya provincial government. In addition to that, her two children will also receive scholarships.
Is it just me or does this seem wrong? Why are we awarding and commending people for honesty? Seriously, why? Don't get me wrong, I have no objection of giving her a monetary award. But why?
Isn't honesty supposed to be a given? Isn't it that all people should be honest? Why give an award for something that you should be doing anyway? Should we give an award for people taking a bath or brushing their teeth? (Ok, maybe we should give an award for those to minimize the body odor and bad breath).
As the Michael Jackson song goes, "if they say why, why, tell them that it's human nature". It's supposed to be human nature to be honest. The problem is, honesty is so rare now in the Philippines that we give award to people for being honest.
That's just sad. We should punish dishonesty. But we shouldn't honor honesty because that's supposed to be a given. It is expected.
I'm not naive, I know there's a lot of corruption going on. I know people lie all the time. I just find it sad that the Philippines has to give awards for honesty. We have lost so much of our values as a Filipino people. We expect to be lied and cheated that we are surprised if someone is honest.
So much for values education. We have lost so much of our values in the last 20 years.
Filipina Maid Returns $2.1M
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 4:24 PM
Filed Under: award, Congress, filipino, honesty, maid, Michael Jackson, philippine daily inquirer, Philippines |2 comments
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Seem to me that you have much against Fils. Chill out dude. I think it's more of the media trying to promote these long lost values (honesty as an example here) that had been lost in the last 20 years, as you said so.
I don't have anything against Filipinos. In fact, they are very respected worldwide for their hardwork and family values.
Like I said, I have no problem awarding her for her honesty. I just find it ironic that we have to make big deal out of it.
It's just sad that with so much dishonesty going around, this is what we end up doing for someone who's honest.
Post a Comment