Honesty is the most abused virtue of man considering that man seems to have that tendency to take advantage of others. However, in the Ten Commandments, God admonishes man to love one another as all men are created in His own image.
And one of the Ten Commandments enjoins man: “Thou shall not steal.” Yet man, lured by the smell of money, has ransacked government coffers as evidenced by the incarceration of past and present public officials. Perhaps, this is happening as part of democratic processes not only in this country but also in progressive countries.
Take a look at the governments of great powers and developed countries. Who says that there is no graft and corruption out there? Or that no government thieves there can elude arrest? I say, we are just their copycat. Let us comfort ourselves that until now there is no former president who has been convicted of graft and corruption, unlike in other countries.
And, thank God that we are still under His grace, and taking these admonitions: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His justice. And all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12, 13); “How good and how pleasant it is for all good men to dwell together in unity” (Masonic tenet). Masonry, “the Brotherhood of men under the Fatherhood of God,” is the oldest organization heretofore unknown to many; it is also a “Cradle of Heroes and builder of nations.”
—WB GODOFREDO O. PETEZA SR., Barangay Camambugan, Daet, Camarines Norte