So, OK. Since we are into this Daang Matuwid finger-pointing orgy where the administration prigs or priggs, as the case maybe, have been bullying everybody in government to come out  with clean hands, as it were, and  volunteer information on their public and private lives in the name of transparency and accountability (T and A policy as those in government tell us) why don’t we ask one and all, especially those prosecuting or sitting in judgment of Chief Justice Renato Corona and not just those in the regime’s crosshairs, to make the move.

They should not wait for the public to pressure them to do as they say – open up and be cleansed before you can claim membership in the Daang Matuwid brigade. As our friend and elder in the profession, Manong Dick Pascual advised, let those who have cleansed themselves of  any blot, such as filing an honest SALN or a complete ITR, while in the service throw the first stone.

But first about prig or priggs. Prig or priggs is the English equivalent of the German word Rechthaberei which, loosely translated, means  ...”the state of thinking and behaving as if one is in the right and everybody else is wrong...” It is also, a noted observer of the scene advised, a stance which easily lends itself to “...sanctimony, self-congratulation, humorlessness, convenient factual omissions, and aggressive, almost fanatical, obsession with settling scores...”         Tell me, is this behavioral pattern endemic among senior officials in this administration? If so, then they have really been taken in and the disastrous effects of such intoxication is what the public is experiencing at this point.

Let us begin with the SALN and the ITRs which were required of Corona. Of course, we all know that every government employee must file his or her SALN as required under Section 17, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution (oftentimes referred to as the Cory Constitution) which states, in sum, that a public officer or employee upon assumption of office and as often as required under the SALN Law “...submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities and net worth...” whose disclosure to the public will be in the manner provided by law.

Despite a 1989 unanimous ruling of the then Fernan Court prohibiting the disclosure of such SALN unless authorized under strict guidelines provided by the High Tribunal, Corona had his SALN presented and its contents disclosed. That more than satisfies and answer the accusations in the complaint filed against him and should have already ended the prosecution’s “fishing expedition”.        

But NO. It only whetted their appetites. Now, they are on an expanded “fishing expedition” which not only exposes the Corona family to all kinds of embarrassment and undue pressure but, if left unchecked,  also opens the floodgates for all citizens, not only those in government, to be subjected to harassment by the BIR, other  government agencies, and even private individuals and groups who may have grudges against them. WOW!!!

But if that is part of the T and A policy under this administration, then so be it. If they are sincere as they say they are, then they should follow suit, disclose their own SALNs and allow the BIR to make their ITRs public. No ifs and buts about it.

Otherwise, let’s put a stop to this charade and proceed with the consideration of other critical things like job generation, mitigation of price increases, and the like.

In the same T and A vein, we ask those who have been hurling all kinds of insults and, yes, stones at Political Affairs Secretary Ronald Llamas after he was caught buying pirated DVDs to dare all those who have been patronizing such items to start flagellating themselves.

That will probably create such a spectacle to land us in the Guinness Book of World Records since I have not come across anybody, ranging from my friends in the plush villages to those we encounter in the streets or in our regular meetings in and out of Manila, who have not bought any pirated DVD at all. Why do you think we have such nooks in public places or even malls or itinerant vendors of pirated DVDs all over the country?

Not that we don’t care about intellectual property rights at all. No, Sir. We are just advising that before we start a kind of Inquisition on this issue, we should clear things up and ask ourselves: Are we not making a mountain out of a molehill? Specially if we start asking people like Llamas to resign or for P. Noy to fire him for such an infraction. Certainly, Llamas should apologize for doing what he did.

Not just for such indiscretion but for not doing research on what ails the film industry, the better to provide some suggestions on how to rehabilitate it from its present state but also what alternative means of livelihood can government provide to our Muslim brothers, many of them displaced from their communities in Mindanao, who are the main sources of such items.

These are concerns which can very well be looked into by his office. But resign? That is being hypocritical.         About the only thing in addition to apologizing that Llamas should do is talk with the OMB and the police so they can identify the producers of these pirated items so they can be apprehended and the industry allowed to devise means to  lower their prices to match those offered by the pirates.

In short, what we ask of the prigs and the critics is to stop being hypocritical and start getting real and honest if not with the people, at least with themselves.