Love of County Through Sense of Responsibility

by: Nathaniel A. Saquiban

Sense of responsibility, from the term itself, is being sensitive or mindful to responsibility. It is being conscious to a certain task or endeavour with the determination to complete or finish it excellently on time. It is setting aside other unnecessary tasks and distractive forces in order to focus on the work at hand. It is doing one’s duty without any outside stimulus and the ability to police oneself in order to be productive. A person who has sense of responsibility is willing and ready to sacrifice worldly pleasures in order to prioritize what is deemed to be more important.

The value of sense of responsibility has many applications. It is expected from a person to practice it towards someone or something to whom or to which he or she owes allegiance to. A Filipino citizen, for example, is expected to render services to the country in whatever manner, not only to defend our constitution and sovereignty, but as well as to become a good steward of it. Just like Adam and Eve, God placed them in the garden to tend and keep it. It is the same with us as Filipinos, God put us in this country to look after it and protect it. Lamentably, there are a lot of us who are exploiting and destroying the beauty of our country due to selfish interest and personal satisfaction. Some even steal the wealth of this country for personal gain that deters its economic growth and progress.

The truth is – there are a lot of Filipinos who are oblivious of their responsibility under the Preamble of our Constitution. It states that we are to build a just and humane society and establish a government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy. By assessing our present situation, are we truly building a just and humane society? Are we establishing a government that embodies our ideals and aspirations, promotes the common good, conserves and develops our patrimony?

Observing the real scenario in our country, there is still a large proportion of our population, as well those entrusted with authority, who are doing things other than what has been mandated in our Constitution. Their abusive behaviors retard the building of a just and humane society.  Their unlawful or illegal acts defeat the achievement of our ideals and aspirations. Instead of promoting the common good, it is fostering unequal distribution of wealth and benefits. Instead of conserving and developing our patrimony, they are misusing and abusing it. As our new President mentioned in his first State of the Nation Address, “these must come to an end”.
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We should be inspired of the fact that we are given only once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build our country well. If we are in a strategic position of leadership, we are entrusted with responsibility and a chance to prove ourselves. What we have started, we must be committed to finish it. What we have promised to our constituents, we must endeavour to fulfil it. What we have sworn prior to our appointment, we must be ready to take on the responsibilities adhered to it. Sense of responsibility is a norm in the Philippines. Having been known as hardworking people in the world, idleness has no place in our turf.