VIRTUE of HONESTY to STUDENTS

Filipinos are naturally, ordinarily Honest People. One of our most outstanding
virtues as Filipinos, is the virtue of honesty.
What is honesty?
· Honesty is telling the truth.
· Honesty is straightforward conduct.
· Honesty is being sincere, truthful, trustworthy, honorable, fair, genuine, and loyal
with integrity.

“Isagani Cruz of Inquirer News Service (August 27, 2004) expressed his opinion that
we, Filipinos in general are honest and that this is one of the admirable virtues of
our race. There might be degenerates who have impaired that impression, but they
only constituted a small minority despite the growing number of thieves, swindlers
and kidnappers among us. The rest of the 84 million Filipinos are trustworthy men
and women and children too. Adding significance to the statement of Isagani Cruz
was the findings of Asian –wide survey conducted by Readers’ Digest published last
April 7 2004 at Star news paper. “

The study found out that most Filipinos tend to act in an honest fashion when
confronted with everyday dilemmas testing their sense of right and wrong. Here are
some specific findings of the survey:
1. Eighty-two percent of Filipinos will alert security officers to a shoplifter, the
highest score from all the Asian countries included in the survey.
2. Philanderers beware, as 52 percent of Filipinos said they would tell their friend if
his or her spouse was seen having a romantic dinner with a stranger.
3. If they find the cashier at the supermarket has given them too much in change,
82 percent of Filipinos said they would give the money back.
4. The survey also found that 79 percent of Filipino respondents would return a
wallet with an address and phone number inside,
More than any related literatures and studies can be cited to validate the honesty of
the Filipinos, let us now recall some real life stories citing our honesty as a Filipino.
1. August 28, 2004, Daily Inquire published the Honesty of Nestor Sulpico who
had returned a bag of black pearls worth $70,000 to a passenger who had left
it in his taxicab. The act was reported in the American press and reflected
favorably on the Philippines.

2. October 12, 2004 – Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto G. Romulo conveyed

his commendations for the honesty and moral exemplar displayed by Mr.
Melchor Bolivar and his wife Rowena Bolivar, the Filipino couple who returned
US$700,000 erroneously credited to their savings account by a Manhattan-
based European bank.

3. Romeo Pelaez, a janitor at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, had

returned a bag containing three million yen (P1.5 million) that had been left
in a Japan Airlines plane by a Japanese man and his Filipino wife. Pelaez was
cleaning the plane when he discovered the bag containing the money and
turned it over to airport authorities.
 4. Nita Ramos, a 44-year-old janitress at the Manila Domestic Airport, also
returned jewelry estimated at P150, 000 which she had found in the pre-
departure ladies room of the domestic airport.

5. A. Filipino nurse Melitza Anne Chan, 27, of Iloilo, who works as the assistant
to the chief of the Dental Department of the Marabi Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia, did not withdraw, but instead reported to the concerned bank, some
10 million Saudi Riyals (around US$2.6 million or more than P150 million)
erroneously credited to her own account.

Recently, the whole nation was inspired by the honesty shown by a 12 year
old student from a public school name Christina Bugayong. Tinay, as they call her,
found the bundles of cash and checks amounting to P300,000, dropped by a man in
a speeding motorcycle last January 4 2005. After numerous coaxes from neighbors
to keep the money and split it among themselves, Tinay decided to return the
money to its rightful owner through the help of a radio station.
These real life stories prove that Filipinos are naturally and ordinarily honest
people. Honesty is an innate Filipino virtue. The genes of honesty run in our blood.
Filipinos are naturally/ordinarily honest people. William Gardner challenges us to do
ordinary things extra ordinarily well. If being honest is ordinary among us, how can
we make this extra ordinary? Being consistently honest draws the line between
ordinary and extraordinary. We should be consistent in telling the truth, being
sincere, truthful, trustworthy, fair, genuine, and loyal with integrity, with ourselves
and with others. Doing this reflects how honest we could be in the eyes of our just
and loving God. It is being consistently honest that makes our virtue of honesty
extra ordinary.
All of us are facing the challenge of keeping the virtue of honesty within our
bloodline. We are all tasked to pass this virtue and keep it alive from generations to
generations. Together, wherever are we, whatever our status in life might be, let us
face this challenge and prove to ourselves that we are full blooded honest Filipinos.

I. Challenge yourself
Choose a challenge:
a. Tell the truth
b. Return recovered things (personal items, money, etc)
c. Admit mistake
d. Return excess change
e. Avoid cheating

On your journal, process your experience with the aid of the following guide
questions:
a. What challenge did you take?
b. Were you able to do the challenge? How do you feel about it?
c. What have you realized/learned from your experience?