Public officials should be open to criticism

The editorial “Ignoring the experts” (8/13/20) brought to the fore once more the dismissive and reflexively antagonistic attitude of some of our public servants to criticism.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, vice chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, was reportedly irked by the concerns raised by engineers and motorcycle experts on the aerodynamics and safety of the government’s motorcycle barrier policy, protesting it as “hazardous” and an “unnecessary cost burden.” He rejected the criticisms and even scolded the protesters. Such cavalier attitude is truly appalling.

To quickly dismiss criticisms is the refuge of those who fail in their job due to brazen incompetence. Open-mindedness to criticisms, no matter how harsh or tactless they may seem, goes a long way. It opens opportunities to find the truth and to rethink and reassess one’s position in a given situation. The essence of the democratic exchange of ideas in formulating or shaping policies is expressed in the words of Russia’s empress, Catherine the Great: “I examine the circumstances, I take advice, I consult the enlightened part of the people, and in this way I find out what sort of effect my laws will have.”

This quote from James Boswell’s “The Life of Samuel Johnson” is also instructive: “You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables.” Simply, it teaches that, even though he is not in the trade of making tables, the customer has the wherewithal and the right to criticize the carpenter and complain about the poor quality of his work.

Ordinary citizens, too, have the right and, in fact, the civic duty to voice out their dissent and offer alternative views over bad decisions or actions by public officials. In the end, listening to well-meaning criticism, not affected praise, will lead to a well-studied and thought-out plan that the people can stand behind and support.

DIOSDADO V. CALONGE
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