Diwalay, Clarence S.

Week 1-2

Activity 1: Recognizing Ethical Problems

1. The pardon given by President Rodrigo Duterte to the mañanita celebrant Debold
Sinas,but rather promoting Debold Sinas (Rappler.com, May 12, 2020) - This
demonstrates that the president is allowing the behavior in front of the public,
demonstrating that the law does not impose well-known individuals.
2. “Pagmumura ni Duterte kay Obama, OKS lang kay Obama. (Newsnow.ph, September
10, 2016) – It is unacceptable to disrespect a leader by calling it a joke as an escape or
crediting it to mental gymnastics in the case of one of the most notable US Presidents.
3. The bubble-like resignation of Ricardo Morales due to missing funds of Phil Health which
is about Php 147 billion. Without providing any such justification, the previous chief
Morales resigned and did not address the complaints made against him.
4. Birthday big salu-salo for NCRPO chief Debold Sinas amid ECQ on May 8, 2020
(Rappler.com, May 12, 2020) –It is completely unethical for one of the senior officials of
the organization responsible for enforcing the law to break the prohibition on social
gatherings.
5. Duterte jokes about rape, again. Philippine women aren’t laughing (Nytimes.com, August
31, 2018).
President Duterte must advance human rights, particularly for women, but it is wrong for
him to romanticize the act and make light of the terrible turn while in office.

Quiz 1: Keywords to remember and contrast.

1. Define ethics.
- The term ethics is derived from the Greek word “ethos”. Ethics is subfield of philosophy
that deals with human conduct, particularly how people behave in social setting. In order to
understand what is morally right or wrong, just or unjust, ethics explores the intellectual
justification for our moral judgments. It certainly defines how a person should behave in specific
situations.

2. What is the difference between ethics and morals?

- Ethics will help determine whether your behavior was good or bad, while morality may
help you decide whether your intentions were good or bad.

3. Differentiate ethics from aesthetics, etiquette, and technique.

- In ethics we are putting a value on our actions. However not all that is valued to be
good and bad are part of ethics. Valuation can be also part of aesthetics. The word aesthetic
comes from the Greek word aesthesis which means sense or feeling. It deals with the nature of
beauty, and taste. It examines subjective and sensory-emotional values. These judgements are
based on what we see, hear, smell, or taste. Besides aesthetics, there is another way we can
value judgement on the goodness and badness of our action and it is what we call etiquette.
Etiquette is the set of conventional rules of personal behavior in polite society, usually in the
form of an ethical code that delineates the expected and accepted social behaviors that accord
with the conventions and norms observed by a society, a social class, or a social group. It is
telling us what is proper to do in specific situations. The technique is another thing, Technique
comes from the Greek word “techne” which means the proper way of doing things. Aesthetics,
etiquette, and technique is not part of ethics. So, every problem raised on aesthetics, etiquette,
and technique cannot be considered as ethical problems.

Activity 2: Analyzing Case

Last June 11, 2020, the Lucban Municipal Police Station (LMPS) posted on their
Facebook page: “Mahalin natin ang mga kababaihan at huwag nyo abusuhin ang kanilang
kabaitan. Kayo naman mga ghErlsz, wag kayo magsuot ng pagkaikli-ikling damit at pag naman
nabastos ay magsusumbong din sa amin. Isipin nyo rin!” This post became viral on the
worldwide-web. Comments on this post flooded the different social media platforms. This
particular post tells women to avoid wearing certain clothes.
You need to analyze this case. There are conflicting thoughts on the post of
LMPS. Are clothes just a matter of aesthetic? Or can clothes become an ethical problem?
Explain your answers. Explain it in 7 to 10 sentences.

For me, it is not an ethical problem but the eyes of other men is. It is not the women’s
fault to be sexualized just for wearing short or even revealing clothes. Women should have the
freedom to choose what they want to wear that they are comfortable of wearing. The mere fact
is that being more attracted to the exposed skin of women is only to the perception of the one
who sees it and it cannot be in terms of clothes. Citing that, thus a child sees lust as a young
boy sees breast? No, he sees milk as a source of food. Having a conclusion that it is just a
matter of aesthetic, for the reason that wearing sexy clothes and being sexualized is not
because of the one who wears it, it is because to the one who sees it that has malicious
intention.