How ironic that no less than the justice secretary should respond so dismissively to youth and student leaders in their pursuit of truthfulness in public office: “It’s a very small issue. They’re making a mountain out of a molehill” (“DOJ chief: I’m not fake news king,” News, 7/11/17).
On taking civic action these groups have resisted political cynicism, which is no small achievement in these times. What is at stake is public trust, a pillar of democracy. According to Baroness Onora O’Neill, of Bengarve, MP and former principal of Girton College, Cambridge University, the real enemy of public trust is deception. She writes: “Deception is not a minor or marginal moral failure. Deceivers do not treat others as moral equals, exempting themselves of obligations that they rely on others to live up to… Deception lies at the heart of many serious crimes, (including) fraud, perjury … and corrupt practices.”
It seems to me that in our efforts to develop a more robust public culture, we cannot allow anyone the “license to deceive.”
VIRGINIA CALPOTURA, RSCJ, strvirginia@yahoo.com.ph