The Death of the Laws and Our State: A Call for a Moral Revolution

by Manuel Rodriguez II

We have become a lawless and a society full of danger.

On the streets, in public places, one may spit, dump his garbage or, urinate anywhere he pleases. Nobody takes offense anymore, whether for himself or for the society. On the road, no courtesies are given and received: the man behind the wheel is an emperor; the traffic police could be bribed, the pedestrian run over, no big deal.

An innocent harmless old lady could be robbed and gunned down in broad daylight, and the witnesses of the crime would simply walk away and watch the evening newscast in the comforts of their homes, sleep soundly, and in the morning read the newspapers.

Within the metro, anyone can construct anything anywhere – on somebody else’s property, in the park, sidewalk or, under a flyover or a bridge – without reference to a zoning law, a building code, or property rights of other persons. The growth of squatter colonies is unstoppable.

Poverty is now equated with filth, and the rich think they have a right to pollute. We now see the air that we breathe and we lack law on noise, we now have equal chances of getting deaf. Piped waters remains drinkable, but the pipelines are all dead. While political environmentalists protests, all environmental proposals sleep in Congress.

If the physical environment is polluted, the moral environment is worse.

Unable to teach the citizens work ethic, the Government operates gambling through casinos instead, to teach the poor Filipinos to trust their luck. And even as we exert efforts in defending the women and children against sexual abuses, pornography is open to everyone.

And while violation of the sixth commandment remains a felonious act, its most notorious public offenders seem to regard themselves as a special gift to public office. They have a luxurious visualization of themselves so they do not commit petty graft.

Truly, the law is dead, and the State is dead.

Of course, the State has died many times before. But it has not stopped dying since.
We must realize that the rise of corruption and petty crime rates are simply other words for the collapse of the rule of law. And that, in turn, is just another word for the collapse of morality.

The crisis that we are facing is first of all a moral crisis, a crisis of our soul as one Nation. We forgot that the most important battle is not the battle against poverty, sicknesses, or even terrorism, no matter how critical they may be, but against evil. We have turned the truth upside down and worshipped man in his own image instead of God. We have lost distinction of good and evil.

Solemn pronouncements or congressional inquiries cannot address or solve this morality crisis. Not even, with all due respect, by a political movement for moral recovery.

Only a return to morality – to a sense of good or evil – will do the work. Once the rule of law is collapsed, the social order can restore it only by appealing, no longer plainly to the law, but rather to the basis of the law which is morality.

The essential query in political affairs is how to arrange our lives as one. That is the role of law, which Saint Thomas Aquinas defines as an ordinance of reason promulgated by authority for the common good. To the law then, society entrust the arrangement of our lives as one.

Saints for public office? Why not, if we can find them in this world. If not, let’s look for the next best, not the least worst. The Government can be an avenue for morality to spring once again; we need morally upright law-makers, judges and president. Change happens gradually. The change that we seek may not come in our lifetime, but there is no time to start the work for change than now.

In the search for these people in the mean time, we can start the revolution by changing our communities, homes, and ourselves in the light of morality.