Palusot syndrome
This happened eight years ago. I was about to line up at the immigration counter during a layover in Qatar en route to Germany when suddenly an airport attendant, a fellow Filipino, pleasantly called my attention. He quickly unlatched a portion of the retractable belt barrier and invited me to jump the long queue.
I knew he was just being helpful and all, perhaps owing to my being a kababayan. So I managed to curve a faint smile in appreciation, and shyly declined the unwarranted privilege.
That scene comes to mind whenever I encounter or hear about incidents of skirting the rules or what we call “palusot.” It is a symptom of lack of discipline, purportedly one of the weaknesses of the Filipino character identified by sociologists.
Modesty aside, I’m fortunate to have some social sense of discipline instilled in me early in life. I can proudly say, for example, that I earned my driver’s license by studying hard to pass the written exam. And I cringe at the thought of putting an “Integrated Bar of the Philippines” sticker or “lawyer” vanity plate on my car. For what purpose should I put it there, really, except to skirt the rules, right?
It helped that I studied in a state university where rich and poor students study, and where there is a conscious tradition not to discriminate – to apply the rules regardless of status or name.
But the same tradition has not been seen in many of our public officials, regardless of what school they came from. Many of them are even highly educated. There are, of course, a few humble and gracious ones – those secure in their own right such that they don’t have to display entitlement.
Apparently not ACT OFW Representative John Bertiz. The partylist congressman is in hot water after CCTV footage of his rude behavior at the NAIA went viral last weekend. The video posted by a netizen on Sunday showed Bertiz passing through airport security when he appeared to grab the ID of an airport security staff. This was after the latter appeared to call Bertiz’s attention for skipping security protocols.
Bertiz later apologized but his staff offered an excuse. According to a report by ABS-CBN, Bertiz’s chief of staff said the lawmaker confronted the security officer for letting some “Chinese-looking passengers” breeze through the checkpoint. Bertiz also later accused the security staff of being “so rude and arrogant.” Airport authorities promised a thorough investigation into the incident.
That the video already garnered over 240,000 views as of Sunday and got so many people worked up is because we are all aware of the entrenched condition of public ethics in the country, where ethics is more on paper and less in practice.
Doctor Sherlito Sable of the University of Southeastern Philippines wrote in a study he did on the politics of ethics in public service that in the current state of public ethics in the Philippines, “becoming a public servant is an opportunity to enrich oneself except for those who take public service as a matter of fundamental choice.”
“We are painfully aware of failures at all levels, among public officials and public ‘servants’ with regard to the ethics of public service,” Sable wrote quoting Father John J. Caroll, SJ, of Ateneo de Manila University.
Public displays of arrogance or entitlement only serve to reinforce the perception of the public that government cannot be trusted. This shows that we are still far from developing a level of integrity and institutional culture of ethics.
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