Activity 1: Recognizing Ethical Problems

Read Bulaong, O. et. al. (2018). Ethics: foundation of moral valuation. Manila: Rex Bookstore,
pages 2-5 (see uploaded PDF file).

Name five events in past months, weeks, or days that can be qualified as ethical
problems. Give your reasons. You can use stories or events published in newspapers or aired
on televisions. Please give proper acknowledgment of the source. You don’t need to get the
whole story. This activity is meant to assess whether you can recognize ethical problems. It
will be graded and categorized as a performance outcome. This will be 50 pts. Please turn in
your work in Google Classroom.

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges apologizes for plagiarized speech of top graduate.

Ayen, a magna cum laude graduate and the top of his batch, has been the subject of online
criticism after social media users noticed similarities in the introduction of his speech with that
of the 2019 valedictory address of Mariyela Mari Hugo, a Far Eastern University graduate.

Both graduates started their speeches with the sentence "Lang, the short term for the Filipino
word 'lamang', which means 'just' or 'only'".

But it wasn't just the introduction that ruffled the feathers of netizens. They also noticed that the
entire theme of Ayen's speech was identical to Hugo, with both criticizing the culture of belittling
other degree programs that seemed to lack any profitable job opportunities.

Ayen admitted that he indeed watched the YouTube video of the speech and related to it. Despite
the rest of his address not bearing any more plagiarized content, netizens still wanted him to have
attributed Hugo.

The entrepreneurship graduate has since apologized, according to a Facebook post by The SPARK,
the student publication of CSPC. He reasoned that he never meant to plagiarize Hugo's work and
that he was only inspired by it.

It is considered as an ethical problem because plagiarism because is an act when you

take someone’s work and try to pass it off as your own. This is referred to as stealing, which
is both unlawful and unethical. Plagiarism is seen as literary theft in legal terms.

Reference:
Ranara, J. P. (2022, July 14). Camarines sur Polytechnic colleges apologizes for plagiarized
speech of top graduate. l!fe • The Philippine Star. https://philstarlife.com/news-and-
views/970780-camarines-sur-polytechnic-colleges-apologizes-for-plagiarized-
speech-of-top-graduate

N.B.A. Fines Anthony Edwards $40,000 for Anti-Gay Remarks

The N.B.A. fined Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards $40,000 on Tuesday for anti-
gay remarks that he made in an Instagram video that circulated online this month.

In the video, which has since been deleted from his account, Edwards used homophobic language
to describe a group of people he was filming as they stood on a sidewalk. Edwards has 1.2 million
followers on Instagram.
 “It is generally agreed that discrimination based on ethic origin is morally wrong and a
violation of the principal of equality”(May and Sharratt 1994:317). When someone is treated unfairly
because of a certain feature, this can have negative effects on both that person and other people who
share that trait, that’s why it is considered as an ethical problem.

Reference:
Cacciola, S. (2022, September 20). N.B.A. Fines Anthony Edwards $40,000 for anti-gay remarks. The
New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and
Videos. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/sports/basketball/nba-anthony-edwards-
fined-homophobic.html?searchResultPosition=2

Hermès Bags and Millions in Cash: The Fall of Malaysia’s Najib Razak

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —The former prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, arrived in a black
sport utility vehicle and was taken into the courthouse through a back door. Dozens of prison
guards and police officers, some heavily armed, escorted him into a fifth-floor courtroom this
month for his second trial on corruption charges.

Mr. Najib, the pampered son of the country’s second prime minister, Abdul Razak Hussein, had
once been seen as politically untouchable. Before Donald J. Trump became president of the
United States, he called Mr. Najib “my favorite prime minister.”

But the law finally caught up with the Malaysian scion. Last month, Mr. Najib began serving a 12-
year sentence for pocketing millions of dollars in government funds. His downfall was brought on
by his own brazen behavior and personal mantra: “cash is king.” While in power, he siphoned
hundreds of millions of dollars from a government fund to pay for election campaigns and finance
his lavish lifestyle.

Mr. Najib’s free-spending wife, Rosmah Mansor, notorious for her extravagant jewelry and
Hermès handbags, is headed to prison, too. She was handed a 10-year sentence this month for
soliciting and receiving bribes and ordered to pay an extraordinary $216 million fine.

Corruption refers to unethical behavior, which is characterized by misuse of public or

organizational power (Anand et al., 2004), causing harm not only to organizations but also to
society. The said personnel abuse his power and position for his personal gain. Corruption is an
immoral and illegal behavior.

Reference:
Paddock, R. C. (2022, September 14). Hermes bags and millions in cash: The fall of Malaysia’s Najib
Razak. The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and
Videos. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/world/asia/malaysia-najib-rosmah-
1mdb.html?searchResultPosition=2
 Prostitution is an is
Prostitution ethical
not a problem because
job. The inside of the practicebody
a woman’s is contrary
is not atoworkplace
human dignity, breaks
families, and it is anti to human development. Prostitution is immoral as a special case of the
immorality
One of theofmost
adultery.
persuasive myths about prostitution is that it is “the oldest profession”. Feminist
abolitionists, who wish to see an end to the sex trade, call it “the oldest oppression” and resist the
Reference:
notion that prostitution is merely “a job like any other”.
Bindel, J. (2018, April 30). Prostitution is not a job. The inside of a woman’s body is not a workplace.
Now itthe Guardian.
would appearhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/30/new-zealand-sex-
that the New Zealand immigration service has added “sex work” (as
work-prostitution-migrants-julie-bindel
prostitution is increasingly described) to the list of “employment skills” for those wishing to
migrate.
2 suspects in murder of woman in Baguio surrender

BAGUIO CITY – Two suspects in the murder of a woman whose naked body was found in a private
compound on Aug. 30 in Barangay Alfonso Tabora, Baguio City voluntarily surrendered to the
Manila Police District (MPD) on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Murder is unethical, no matter how painless, because it violates the interest of another
sentient being in continued conscious existence. Aristotle says that murder is always wrong. He says
nothing about harm to the victim. Instead, it is wrong because it is always an extreme act. He says
that it is not an act which admits of a mean or middle way. What is wrong with murder is its extreme
nature, and extremes are not virtuous, and without virtue we fail to achieve our highest good. Thus to
commit murder is wrong because the murderer fails to act with virtue, and so fails to achieve his own
flourishing—the murderer harms himself.

Reference:
Rizaldy, C. (2022, September 8). 2 suspects in murder of woman in baguio surrender. Manila
Bulletin. https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/08/police-arrest-suspect-in-murder-of-woman-in-
baguio/