The thought process must always precede the talk. It’s not just a cardinal rule, it’s a doctrine.
Two narratives this past week have brought to fore the importance of the mantra “think before you talk.”
First, broadcast journalist Erwin Tulfo who berated Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rolly Bautista, a retired military general, for not immediately granting him an interview for his radio show “Tutok Tulfo” on Radyo Pilipinas.
Tulfo bad-mouthed Bautista who is known to many as a gentleman, hardworking official who commands respect from his peers and everyone else who have come across him one way or another. Even Bautista’s peers from the military reacted to Tulfo’s rant.
Tulfo would later say he regretted his rant.
However, the broadcaster’s foul-mouthed trash talk had done enough damage mostly to his reputation than put a dent on Bautista’s character. It was too late an apology or it was even a half-baked one. Had he the power to do a playback of his broadcast and delete that part, Tulfo would have done so with calmed nerves.
Second, there’s opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros who, perhaps in the absence of her staff’s research work and consultation with her lawyer friends, commented on
Senate Bill No. 2232, which seeks to require senior high students to participate in the ROTC program, will violate the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a protocol to which the Philippines is a party of. She added that the protocol mandates that underaged persons — those under 18 years old — are not “compulsorily recruited into the armed forces.”
Hontiveros missed out the point that the mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) for Grades 11 and 12 students is not recruitment into the military. It is merely a basic military training to equip students of the necessary knowledge and skills in case their service is needed to defend the country. ROTC cadets are not conscripted into the military and expected to fight wars during their two-year training. Mandatory ROTC will not automatically make Grades 11 and 12 students part of the AFP.
As to mobilization of reservists in times of war, the same will require an Act of Congress and is not automatic.
Defending the country is nowhere illegal. In other countries, rendering military service for a period of time is a requisite for young citizens.
Senator Hontiveros badly missed the point, or is the militant nature in her simply tells her to go the other way. Without even thinking.
