After 19 Years of STAR Wars: A newspaper’s duty is still to seek the truth

The nation is in a state of unease – although most of the turmoil appears to be centered in Congress, in Metro Manila, and in our Media (the traditional "Fourth Estate") – but here we are, in The Philippine STAR celebrating our 19th anniversary.

What’s there to celebrate, some will ask, in this down-in-the-mouth period? We get a daily dosage of doom and gloom from radio and television, and read of our travails and disappointments in dozens of newspapers, but let’s count our blessings.

Our nation may be chaotic, but we’re free. We’re even free to make fools of ourselves, the Fifth Freedom. Our press is unfettered except by the laws of libel, and are circumscribed – or should be – only by the norms of decency and decorum. "Truth shall prevail", our newspaper’s motto remains undimmed, although, sadly, sometimes Truth can inadvertently be mishandled or misdirected. Being human, we commit errors, but strive to immediately correct them, and set things right.

Enough of this apologia por sua vita. Hurrah, once again, for our free press! Not too many years ago, our independent newspapers, radio and television stations were padlocked by a Dictator, journalists jailed, or tortured and murdered, blatant propaganda was disguised as "news," – and editors could publish only "praise releases."

Are Filipinos "happy" with the freedom we’ve got? Not everyone. For we’ve forgotten, much too often, that for every freedom there is a responsibility.

We dislike dishing out sermons, or being on the receiving end of sermons, so let’s just defer to one of the professionals in the sermon-business; a prelate whom we respect. I’m one of those irritating heretics who firmly believe the Church should never meddle in politics (as Jesus said, "My Kingdom is not of this world"), but one of the things Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales said the other day belongs to the realm of the spiritual – as well as the practical. He asserted that the country needs to change its value system, not its political system.

I don’t subscribe to the more "political" aspects of his other remarks – keep out of politics, Holy Mother Church! (our fathers fought a Revolution to stress this point) – but the statement above says it all.

Values. It’s on this point that we seem to have lost our moorings.

When all is said and done, a newspaper’s duty is still to seek the truth, not attempt to demonstrate or misuse its power. Having been in chains during the 14 years of Marcos Martial Law (Apo Macoy ruled for 20 years, but the earlier period, while plagued with corruption, was democratic), the media which was "liberated" in February 1986 tends sometimes to run amok.

Indeed, I am not fully at ease with the pretentious term "Media," with its ambitious connotation of hegemony and "might." In the old days, we were more humbly called "The Press," but that word didn’t encompass the early "idiot box" called television. I still prefer the description of those in our calling as being "newspapermen" or "journalists." But why bore you, Dear Readers, with my nostalgic rantings? Nostalgia, as has been pointed out, is the kingdom of the old. This is a nation in which the present and the future belongs to the young.

And yet, from the "old" we the citizens of this troubled land, in this time of uncertainty and self-doubt in which a President is beleaguered, accused of wrongdoing, and faces "impeachment," in which we are debating, "Quo Vadis our Democracy?" can learn much.

Why not recall the forgotten Civics and Ethics Code promulgated by the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth, Manuel L. Quezon, which is amazingly pertinent to this day?

On Aug. 19, in the year 1939, the fourth year of the Commonwealth, the great MLQ issued Executive Order No. 217, "prescribing certain Civic and Ethical Principles to be taught in all schools in the Philippines."

And here’s what he decreed taught:

1. Have faith in Divine Providence that guides the destinies of men and nations.

2. Love your country for it is the home of your people, the seat of your affections, and the sources of your happiness and well-being. Its defense is your primary duty. Be ready at all times to sacrifice and die for it if necessary.

3. Respect the Constitution which is the expression of your sovereign will. The government is your government. It has been established for your safety and welfare. Obey the laws and see that they are observed by all and that public officials comply with their duties.

4. Pay your taxes willingly and promptly. Citizenship implies not only rights but also obligations.

5. Safeguard the purity of suffrage and abide by the decisions of the majority.

6. Love and respect your parents. It is your duty to serve them gratefully and well.

7. Value your honor as you value your life. Poverty with honor is preferable to wealth with dishonor.

8. Be truthful and be honest in thought and in action. Be just and charitable, courteous but dignified in your dealings with your fellowmen.

9. Lead a clean and frugal life. Do not indulge in frivolity or pretense. Be simple in your dress and modest in your behavior.

10. Live up to the noble traditions of our people. Venerate the memory of our heroes. Their lives point the way to duty and honor.

11. Be industrious. Be not afraid or ashamed to do manual labor. Productive toil is conductive to economic security and adds to the wealth of the nation.

12. Rely on your own efforts for your progress and happiness. Be not easily discouraged. Persevere in the pursuit of your legitimate ambitions.

13. Do your work cheerfully, thoroughly, and well. Work badly done is worse than work undone. Do not leave for tomorrow what you can do today.

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

15. Cultivate the habit of using goods made in the Philippines. Patronize the products and trades of your countrymen.

16. Use and develop our natural resources and conserve them for posterity. They are the inalienable heritage of our people. Do not traffic with your citizenship.

* * *

Without a comma changed, that Civics and Ethics Code drawn up by Quezon with the help of "eminent" persons, could be usefully adopted and implemented today – except the clause regarding "the habit of using goods made in the Philippines." (It could not be enforced, since we buy too many knock-offs made in China and Thailand).

If we had not abandoned that Code and continued teaching it in our schools, we might truly have become, to invoke the hackneyed but glorious phrase, "a nation great and strong."

Yet neither Quezon nor the Filipinos of that Golden Yesterday were as perfect as they may seem in the afterglow. Quezon himself was grand and petty at the same time, generous and vengeful, sometimes nasty in politics, magnificent in statesmanship. When my father, an Assemblyman from Ilocos Sur, clashed with him on "block voting", Quezon scratched his name off the official Senatorial line-up of the ruling Nacionalista Party. He vengefully moved to topple Manuel A. Roxas from the Speakership of the House. Roxas was ejected, indeed, but he declared later: "I am happier now because I fell from that pedestal of power directly into the arms of the people."

Quezon groused later: "Mr. Roxas is a martyr of his own incompetence."

Quezon got his own share of criticism, even insults, Don Teodoro Kalaw – the outspoken Editor of the newspaper El Renacimiento, termed Quezon the "most pernicious man" – in local politics. Strangely, MLQ did not resent this derogatory statement, but appointed Kalaw director of the National Library – a much-coveted post in those days.

"But I hardly know English!" the Spanish-speaking Kalaw honestly protested.

"Oh, that’s all right," Quezon had replied. "I’m appointing you because of your knowledge of Constitutional law."

Quezon as Assemblyman from Tayabas (now Quezon Province) went to the US to lobby for independence, and was invited to lunch by American President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Oyster Bay. Don Manuel was very impressed with FDR. At the luncheon, Roosevelt told him that the policy of the US was to grant the Philippines independence "in due time." MLQ made the mistake of blabbing about this to the press, not realizing Roosevelt’s remark was "supposed" to be off-the-record. The White House issued an official denial. That’s where Quezon learned that in diplomatic protocol, truth is often denied.

He was discouraged, when enroute home by ship, after receiving newspaper clippings strongly assailing his trip as a useless squandering of "public funds." He wrote to Kalaw from Shanghai:

"I think I shall throw all politics out of the window as soon as I finish my present political commitment. A politician’s road is strewn with thorns and thistles. That is not the kind of life I long for . . . I think it will be good to take a rest. My country has no need of me, as it has no need of anyone."

If Quezon had really quit then, how would our history have gone – and where would have been his place in history?

If Manuel A. Roxas, after his rebuff by Quezon and his "fall" from the Speakership, had given up – would he have become the first postwar President, and the first President of the Philippine Republic?

The lives of the men who made our nation what it is today tell us that there is nothing new under the sun. What made our leaders of yesterday great is that they rose from disappointment, and near despair to meet the challenges which confronted them.

And here’s what the Los Angeles Times wrote about the situation in Manila in 1914 – or 16 years after American "occupation" and tutelage: "The Philippine Islands are cursed with a lot of native politicians who, for graft and greed, excel anything presented by Tammany in the days of Tweed." (The Teapot Dome Scandal in America demonstrated that things were just the same in Washington DC – and that was long before the scandal of the Nixon Tapes).

In these days of the "Hello, Garci" ringtone the vital lesson we must learn from our past is that we can triumph if we only persevere.

Let me, on our 19th anniversary, reiterate the Philippine STAR’s creed: Truth shall prevail. Justice will be done. The Filipino people, by grit, hard work, and faith in God, will march forward to fulfill their destiny.

Our 1935 Constitution – still in my mind our best Constitution – was written by wise men when we were only 16 million in population. It started out in its Preamble with the words, "The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence. . ."

Once again, we implore God’s aid. But we resolve to put our shoulders to the wheel.