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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
Filipinos should not even go
through the motions of marking more than 100 years of freedom from
Spanish rule if they continued to allow fragmentation rip the
country apart, the Supreme Court Chief Justice said Friday.
“We have no reason to celebrate
Independence Day under our situation at present. Let us heal the
wounds of disunity,” Reynato Puno told celebrators on Friday as he
led 111th Independence Day rites at the Bonifacio Shrine in Caloocan
City (Metro Manila).
He likened the Philippines to
“a restive volcano that could erupt anytime. Let us stop the
impending eruption of a social volcano in our country.”
Puno said the people need not
wait for a leader to effect needed reforms “for all of us can
lead” under an undivided country.
“Itigil ang paglalaitan, ang
pagbabastusan, ang paggamit ng mga malalaswang salita laban sa
isa’t isa. Itigil ang pagsisiraan, ang pagwawasakan, ang
pagtatapon ng putik sa pagkatao ng bawat isa. Itigil ang
pagkakawatak-watak bilang Pilipino [Stop the condescension, the
discourtesy, the use of foul language. Stop the badmouthing, the
demolishing, the mudslinging. Stop the fragmentation],” the Chief
Justice said.
“Let us all act. Let us heal
the land. Let us heal the wound of disunity. Let us stop our
bickering. We should not insult each other and stop washing our
dirty linen in public. That is the first step [toward unity],”
Puno added.
No political plans
Amid calls for him to run for
president, according to the Chief Justice, he was always praying
that he would not be tempted to try public office. “I always pray
the Lord’s Prayer, lead me not into temptation.”
Still, he appealed for people
empowerment through clean, honest and orderly elections.
Puno maintained that he has no
plans to enter the political arena or join the presidential race
next year even as he leads a group that would help educate the
electorate in choosing the next president of the country. President
Gloria Arroyo’s term ends in June 2010.
He said the Moral Force Movement
that he had initiated is non-partisan, advocating only political
reforms.
Puno added that he was committed
to the judiciary and has no intention of cutting it short for
political purposes.
All he wanted, he said, was to
initiate necessary changes when he called for the movement, not
expecting that it would help snowball calls for him to run for
president in 2010.
Moral Force members
On April 7, the Chief Justice
formed an eight-member core group that would lead his Moral Force
Movement.
The group is composed of
Henrietta de Villa, chairman of National Movement for Free Elections
(Namfrel) and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV);
Msgr. Gerry Santos, director of Catholic Educational Association of
the Philippines; retired Gen. Jaime Echeverria, president and
chairman of Association of Generals and Flag Officers; Dr. Emerito
Nacpil, retired bishop of United Methodist Church who now serves as
director of Wesleyan College of Manila;
Dr. Milwida Guevarra, former
Finance undersecretary and now director of Synergia Foundation;
Andres Juan Bautista, dean of Far Eastern University Institute of
Law; Marixi Prieto, chairman of Philippine Daily Inquirer; and
Noorain Sabdulla, an outstanding student from Nueva Ecija
province.
The core group agreed to zero in
on defining and electing transformational leaders in the 2010
elections.
Transformational leaders, as
defined by Puno in his earlier speech, are those who inspire
followers to transcend their self-interest for the sake of the
organization or the greater whole. Transactional leaders, in
contrast, motivate their followers by appealing to their
self-interest. 
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