Hiya and its absence in Philippine society

Several years ago, I was invited as a guest in a GMA 7 show hosted by Winnie Monsod and Oca Orbos. I was asked--what ails our society and without even thinking, I told them " we are now a society peopled with individuals na wala nang hiya."

Thank our leaders for leading us to this pitiful direction.

Hiya is more than what its English transliterated term meant. For most, hiya means "being ashamed" or "losing face." For Filipinos, hiya is deeper than being just ashamed or losing face.  My former professor Ed. Zeus Salazar described hiya as one's sense of propriety.

Doing something legal but largely perceived as shameful is having "hiya." In today's world, doing legal acts while shameful is okey, like what former Senator Alan Peter Cayetano told the media when asked why is he and his wife running as legislators under different districts--are they separated?  I would not belabour my readers about this topic. There is an interesting article written by Ledivina Carino, entitled, " The Definition of Graft and Corruption and the Conflict of Ethics and Law" published by the Philippine Journal of Public Administration, vol. 13, nos. 3& 4 (1979) about this.

Hiya is more of a term which means restraint. It is disallowing oneself to commit an act which will harm other people or society as a whole. Or committing an act while a mob cheers on and knowing full well that such an act will eventually place the people in a precarious and humiliating situation in the end is an absence of hiya.

Hiya is about minding what happens to the rest of us instead of pursuing selfish things. It is sacrificing one's condition and safety for the sake of others. Allowing pedestrians to cross the street is hiya. Lining up or queuing up in a gasoline station or grocery is hiya. Allowing someone to speak his mind first is hiya.

Not stealing public monies while you know that no one is looking or will know about it, is hiya. Following speed limits, conserving water, and taking care of the widows, the poor and the orphans are all forms of hiya.

Not raising the prices of your goods or not keeping voluminous stocks of it in your warehouses just to create an artificial rate crisis is simply ka-walang hiyaan or the absence of hiya.

Hiya is being socially conscious and responsible for the widespread effects of your actions. Not exercising your power to claim a life is hiya. Not flaunting your power while you have all the right is hiya. Restraining yourself to curse others while you have all the freedom to do so, is hiya.

Ask yourself--why are some people stealing our monies? It is because they presume that the impropriety that they'll be doing would not be discovered. And if discovered, then, they simply shrug their shoulders and say, so be it. We should strike these people from our midst.