Jene Babe T.

Wasawas

Case # 8: “Gifts Galore”

We Filipinos love to give gifts. It is part of our culture; it is a way of showing

appreciation or gratitude to the people that matters to us. We also believe that

refusing a gift that is given to us is an insult; it is one way of showing that you are

not appreciative of the effort exerted by the giver or showing disrespect. If this is so,

however it is not applicable with public employees or officials. We should not forget

that it is strongly prohibited to accept these gifts. It is not acceptable to receive such

items as token of appreciation especially on Adora’s part. She will really become a

talk of the town because instead of politely refusing the gifts she is happily accepting

them.

I am really impressed the way Josie displayed in here. It only means that as a

public employee she is thinking and acting like what a government employee should

be. It is a matter of thinking rationally and displaying that she knows the possible

consequences of the action taken. As an officer with a higher rank Adora, she should

know the weight of the actions she is doing. She should have considered the fact

that she is positioned to a rank that is crucial, likewise she should have handled the

situation in a more mature way of thinking and with professionalism. Although she

did not actually ask for it, it is a must that she should not accept anything in return.

The way she tried to defend herself is showing clearly that she is accepting that is

just right for her to accept those gifts and she doesn’t see that it is not suited for her

position and that act is wrong.

 It is really enticing to accept gifts like that. But when you have strong

conviction of what you believe, you will be able to stop thinking and regretting that

you did not accept anything. Instead, you will be happy with yourself that you were

able to control and discipline yourself. You have done a great job and many people

would surely see you as someone that they could look up to. Respect and trust of

people are not readily given, it is actually earned. You will just have it if you are

worthy to be respected and be trusted.

We can encounter this case mostly every day. We can actually try to advise

people to just give gifts to those people who need it much more than we do. We are

just doing our job and what we expect them to do is follow us that when they are

already in then position, they should learn to value the essence of being a good

public servant, to serve without expecting anything in return and just serving with all

our hearts to the best of their capacity.