DUMAGUETE CITY – Solicitor General Jose Calida exhorted government workers here to extend genuine public service and to make sacrifices for the good of the country.
“We don’t have to die like the Filipino soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the battlefields of Marawi and elsewhere; we can also be heroes every time we confront the challenges we face as civil servants and perform our tasks in defense of God, the Filipino people, and our country,” Calida said during the city’s celebration of the 118th anniversary of the Philippine Civil Service themed “Lingkod Bayani, Maka Diyos, Makatao at Makabayan”.
A civil servant, he said, does not have to die in the battlefields to be a hero.
A government official or employee can live a heroic life by following Section 1 Article 11 of the 1987 Constitution which dictates public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice and live modest lives, he added.
He said, as the people’s tribune, the solicitor general is not spared from challenges and must continue to leave up to the ideals.
He enumerated the cases which his office is confronted with, including that of Sen. Leila Delima, the President’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao, and Philippine’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the international criminal court. (Juancho Gallarde/PNA)
