Human Duties

By: Atty. Arvin Antonio V. Ortiz

Today we live in an age of human rights. It is the time when every segment of society
insists that its rights be recognized and protected. For instance, the LGBTQ community
advocates that marriage be redefined to include same-sex marriage and that they be
assigned a bathroom of their own. The more audacious groups like Kadamay demands
free housing, and more. Erring students and their parents invoke their rights under the
Child Protection Policy to avoid punishment. In Resident Marine Mammals of the Protected
Seascape Tañon Strait v. Sec. Angelo Reyes, it was even argued that marine
mammals−toothed whales, dolphins, and other cetacean species−have “the right to sue
for the faithful performance of international and municipal environmental laws created
in their favor and for their benefit.”

Not that it’s a bad thing to speak of the language of rights. But too much attention on
human rights hinders us from focusing on the other equally important side of the same
coin: human duties.

One school of thought holds that we have rights because we have duties. Rights proceed
from duties, which are based on law, natural and positive, and contracts. Mohandas
Gandhi once wrote, “all rights to be deserved and preserved came from duty well done.”
In Auguste Comte’s simplest formulation, “there is only one right, and that is to do our
duty.”

Thus, a bank has the right to engage in banking business for as long as it observes
extraordinary diligence in handling its clients’ money. One also has the right to operate
public transportation only if one assumes the duty to transport passengers with
extraordinary care.

The same tenet applies in human relations. We live in a diverse society where people
believe in different gods, eat different foods, wear different clothes, and observe different
cultures. Given that backdrop, imagine how chaotic our society would be if everyone
insists on exercising his personal freedom without regard to others.

It is thus for our own sake that we observe our duties to our fellowmen. As the 1795
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and Citizen exhorted, “The maintenance of
society requires that those who compose it should both know and fulfill their duties.”

As far back as the biblical times, we read in the Old Testament that Moses received the
ten commandments in which God decreed not to murder, not to steal, not to commit
adultery, among others. Closer to home, Article 19 of the New Civil Code provides that
“Every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of his duties, act
with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith.”

Anyone who has ridden an airplane knows how strictly regulated is the passenger’s
conduct inside the aircraft. Before takeoff, passengers are required to fasten their
seatbelts, keep the window cover up, stow their belongings properly, and turn off
electronic gadgets. During the flight, passengers are not allowed to converge in one place
or smoke in the lavatory. And the moment the airplane hits the tarmac, passengers are
not yet allowed to get their belongings until the airplane completely stops. All that is to
make the flight safe.
Citizenship is like riding an airplane. If we want to enjoy the ride and reach our
destination in one piece, we are duty-bound to fasten our seatbelt.