Moral ascendancy of our leaders is the ultimate key to convincing people to walk the talk. Our country was able to numerous leaders but only a few were able to have the moral ascendancy that persuaded people to strictly obey their policies, implementation of their programs and projects and cooperate with their marching orders without hesitation. People nowadays tend to look at the character of leaders in order to gauge their capabilities before making their own actions whether to follow their orders or not or even serve as staunch critics to the brand of leadership present in their organization, association, foundation and even in the public service.
One of the major reasons why most people are now losing their trust to some religious groups is the failure of their leaders to have the moral ascendancy to convince their flock to follow them primarily because they do not actually practice what they preach during their services, masses among other gatherings. Basically, life evolves on doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong but most of the time, people tend to make excuses in defending their wrongful acts just to get one over the others. The greed for power, money, wealth among others have allowed many of us to commit wrongful acts that we tend to defend, legally and morally, which is to the saying, ‘practice what you preach’ or do what is right and abandon what is wrong. Many people realized that after the prevalence of many evils of society, it is just proper to go back to the basics of life, however, the ideal situation might no longer be applicable at present considering the many factors that have evolved and have significantly affected bringing back things to their original form or structure among others.
In the case for the so-called clamor for the Baguio we want, many people are questioning the credibility of the organizers of the activity and their moral ascendancy to do so. Are they practicing what they have outlined for government and the private sector to do? Are they observing the proper segregation of their waste at source and observing proper garbage disposal? Are they practicing energy conservation measures? Are they adhering to simple traffic rules and regulations and the implementation of local ordinances among others? If the answer to all our questions is yes, then people who are critical thinkers and observers will give the needed respect and follow the suggestions of the forum organized by militant groups who tend to use the moral ascendancy of religious leaders to gather people to believe in their radical actions. If the answer to our questions is no, then people will simply shy away from following what the group had outlined as an ideal set up for our city.
In the observance of the implementation of local laws, rules and regulations, most of the organizers of the Baguio we want have failed the criteria of having the moral ascendancy to be able to convince people to follow their advocacy. Simple compliance to the anti-epal law seems to be the major obstacle in having people believe in their advocacy considering that the marker they have installed giving recognition to certain personalities at the Burnham Park, which has been described as illegal and violation of local laws, is still there. How can the organizers convince people to believe in their advocacy when simple things and observance of local laws are not been observed even by the leader of a church?
We have to be circumspect about what is being done and uttered by our influential leaders. Let us not take them as gospel truths because most of them are tainted with personal and political interests. Now that the May 2016 elections is just around the corner, many people are again coming out to mislead us on the qualities of leaders that we should vote. Obviously, the Baguio we want is tainted with political color because almost all of those who attended the gathering have one in common, supporting candidates who they claim as righteous people but with dark backgrounds.
If the religious and militant sector continues to make lies about the morals of their chosen candidates, people flocking to the churches will continue to decline because of their continuous interventions to the affairs of government. While the constitution guarantees our right of choice, let us not try to straighten what is already obviously twisted. Let us not carry a heavy load if we cannot do so because it is the quality of our leaders that will be compromised once we are able to succeed in again trying to divert the attention of our people to what we believe but we do not actually practice. Let us continue to be wise decision makers in a bid to spare our society from the evil motives of aspiring politicians but continue upholding the righteous and morally upright type of leaders for the benefit of the present and future generations.