‘Moral Erosion hits families, youth need to be guided’
BACOLOD CITY — Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno takes the lead in an effort to work on the moral recovery of the Filipinos.
He was in Bacolod City yesterday for the launching of the Moral Force Movement held at the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos.
Puno said the Moral Force Movement is a social movement that aims to revive the Filipinos’ moral values and ethical principles. He said the root cause of the pressing problems of the nation is in the moral decadence and he believes that the solution is on the heavy dosage of moral values.
The secular moral values are all in the fundamental law or Constitution of the land.
The timely and timeless moral values are all written in our Preamble.
It was guiding by Divine sovereignty, respect for the Rule of Law, democratic and republican rights of the people, love of country, patriotism, among others are the moral values that they seek to revive in the Philippine setting.
There is no question on the goodness of the moral values embedded in the Constitution.
But it appeared to have forgotten the moral values of Filipinos and they seek its revival in the present time through the selection and election of transformational leaders.
He stressed that the Moral Force Movement is apolitical and it concerns itself with the problems on good governance. The movement is also a multi-faith movement where Christians and Muslims support the movement.
But he leaves everything to the judgment call of the people in choosing and electing the right leaders for the country.
“We don’t want to cross boundary lines between politics and partisan politics,” he said.
The Moral Force Movement has been created in some areas too like Laguna, Batanggas, Cavite, Tacloban, Ozamis and other parts of the country.
Puno said that they are also extra careful of the Moral Force Movement as others might take advantage of misusing the movement for their personal and agenda.
Puno also said that there is a big hope in the efforts to revive the Filipinos’ moral values.
“We are the first Christian nation in Asia and our moral values and ethical principles are deeply rooted in our hearts and we even written it in our laws,” he said.
He added that when the Philippine Ambassador went to visit Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican, the Pope’s message was the revival of the moral values of Filipinos.
The moral erosion has even hit the smallest unit of society which is the family, thus they are taking this effort to teach and guide the youth in taking to their hearts the needed moral values that will guide them as they grow and become well meaning members of our community.