Ask yourself first

How would you feel if you were falsely accused of wrong doing and to make matters worse, some people who are self-styled “experts,” who are totally clueless of the facts, came out swinging and pre-judging you?

If someone asked you: did you actually know the details of the issue, did you read the official reports and not just news clips and news reports? Did you even bother to call, see or ask the person at the center of the issue for their side? Would you be able to say yes I did or I tried, before I made any comments on the matter?

If a higher authority were to ask you: Do you have authority, expertise or are you directly concerned in the issue? Or are you simply being just another voice adding to the roar of the mob or stating your opinion to boost your ego and public standing?

Can you honestly say that your comments and criticisms are not from personal bias, related to alliances, or friendships you have or motivated by professional interests or profit?

Did you consider the fact that your harsh criticisms not only affect one person, but also his or her family, particularly their children? How would you feel if by some cruel act of fate, you find yourself in those shoes? Would your marriage, your family, your kids survive the vile and venom you have put out for others? And then, how would you feel towards those who unjustly and ignorantly judged you?

Finally, what real “good,” what positive results or uplifting achievement did you accomplish by trashing and tarnishing someone’s reputation?

You don’t have to be a columnist, radio or TV commentator or a key opinion leader or a member of Congress to be as guilty of the above. All of us casually and eagerly engage in discussions on current affairs. However we do more than just talk about politics and issues, we actually “bear false witness” or give accounts about others as if we had direct knowledge or saw the incident or the act in person.

Often all it takes is one question, a microphone, and a video camera. Whether you’re the “man on the street” or the predictably “acerbic or critical go to person” for a great sound byte, we have all sinned and fall short.

As a member of media, I have received several complaints about TV- radio reporters, anchors and columnists who publish or broadcast accounts without even making an effort to get the side or the facts from the people they put in a bad light. The general sentiment is that everybody believes and knows about “fair and balanced reporting” except the media.

Last week the same pattern and behavior manifested itself when so many people in and outside of media joined the bandwagon condemning a “government official” for accepting a free stay in a $6,000/ a night suite.

As I listened to all the commentaries and slowly gathered related information, it soon became evident that many people were “spitting into the wind,” not realizing that many of us have at one point or another received, accepted or benefitted from one form of gift or another.

They said that as a “regulator”, PAGCOR Chairman Bong Naguiat should not have accepted the courtesy extended by a high-ranking casino executive based in Las Vegas. They obviously never heard of “FAM Tours” or familiarization tours or “check flights” where Tourism and Aviation authorities regularly visit, dine and stay in various resorts and hotels in the country or check pilots riding commercial airlines to assess the competency and safety of airline pilots and planes.

The critics rejected the notion of industry practice and business courtesy, but how many of us have received or even requested for an upgrade at the airline counter or at the front desk just on the basis of being a media celebrity, a business VIP or an elected official, even as a publicly recognized official of a church?

Please don’t wash your hands by saying you are not a government official or a “regulator”. If you’re an employee, a member of media, a voter, a gift we don’t deserve can only be one of two things, a gift of grace or a bribe, criminal or otherwise.

Big shot or not, many of us have received some gift or another from politicians, PR practitioners, companies and yes even regulators simply because they were advised to do so in order to promote their product and expand their business network. So they give out GCs or gift certificates for overnight stays in hotels, FAM tours to foreign destinations, free samples from expensive watches to fashionable shirts. Yes we have all taken a bite from one “forbidden fruit” or another particularly during Christmas!

In recent days we learned more and more details about the $6,000 suite and discovered that, the Pagcor Chairman did not ask for it, but was invited and extended the courtesy in keeping with his rank and status in the industry. We learned that the Pagcor Chairman went to the front desk and violating “courtesy” asked to be transferred to a regular room. He was politely told that the hotel was fully booked.

When he inquired about the price, he was told that room was not listed since it was dedicated for VIP purposes only. In a world of branding and imaging, it is a common practice to put such astonishing prices to impress the public and project value.

So which sin is worse: To ignorantly bite a forbidden fruit or wag your finger in one hand, unleash a mouthful of accusations while holding a rosary of freebies with the other hand?