Please make a reflection paper out of this article. A Just and Humane Society. minimum of 300 words.

A JUST AND I HE SOCIETY The minors in this case have taught their chiers a lesson in civic duty, Perhaps the adult were not much concerned about the "continued rape of Mother Earth" because they believed they were not long for this world areway and did not have to deal with the problem themselves. That is a selfish attitude. They could have at least set their children an example by showing a proper protective new for the benefit and future of their own progeny. I do not exactly remember how he paid it, but I think it was Claro M. Recto who spoke of the old man who planted a tree in his yard knowing he would not live long enough to see it grow, But ha would still relish the thought that, king after he was gone, his chil- dron, and perhaps even their children, would sit in its shake That is the kind of citizen we need in the pat and humane society - the pinon who sees beyond his own Interests and look farther into the future with the vision of the altruist. July 15, 1995A Just and Humane Society n the preamble to the 1987 Constitution, the sovereign Fill pino people propose to build what is grandionly called "a just and humane society," There is no definition of the phrase, though, so one is lift to pist conjecture on lis meaning. What is a just and humane society? I would look upon it as a place where every one may punus the imposuble and be amazed to find that it is possible, and this because there are no letters to his mind and no limits to its reach. It is a place where one can dream. In such a place, every human being is a person, with feelings and rights, Including the right to be fullidled, whose hopes for the life he seeka, while they are not always necessarily attained, are nonetheless never artsbran ily dismissed. That society has a heart for the disadvantaged, Recognising the worth of every individual, it hits him from his weakness but never with pity or scom or condescension but because he has a right to Its assistance. The poor are the wards of that society, The rich are the guardians of the poor. There is no oppression there The law that governs that society is obeyed because it is wise and reasonable, operating tenderly on those who need it's sympa thy and severely but never harshly on those who deserve its punish ment. it is compassionate but stern, neither lenient nor Draconian Best of all, it respects the freedom of all and guarantees justice for everyone, As might be expected, there will be serpents in the garden. For motives less than noble, that law will be distorted and that sock cty will be defiled by those who do not care for the benign objective of the greatest good for the greatest number Human rights will be derided and individual liberty suppressed The resources of the people will be dissipated and the public colSEPARATE OPINION fers will be plundered. Abnegation will succumb to avarice as ideal- ism is tarnished with the dross of self-interest. Morality will become pedestrian and passe, disdained by a blase generation that will not be incommoded by virtue. Indeed, that society is being lost even now, even before it has been established, Despoliation and default are corroding the fancy ful Utopia, killing it a-borning, as it were, with deliberate acts to destroy the dream and failure or fear to condemn them. The person who harms that society is no more guilty than the person who allows him to do so, Indifference is in effect complicity or at least condonation, The person who fails to act when he has the right and duty to do so misses his freedom and impales it on his oum apathy, I much admire the petitioners in Oposa u. Factoran, 224 SCRA 792, who had filed suit in the lower court for the protection of the environment and our natural resources. The complaint had bean dismissed and they had gone to the Supreme Court for rebel The remarkable thing is that they were minors (duly repre sented and joined by their parents or guardians in the action] claim ing to act on behalf of "their generation as well as generations yet unborn As they alleged In their petition, they were seeking to "pre went the misappropriation or impairment of Philippine min-for ests and *arrest the unabated hemorrhage of the country's vital life support systems and continued rape of Mother Earth," To this end, they had asked that the respondent be ordered to cancel all existing timber license agreements and to desist from approving new ones In an erudite decision written by Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr., the lower court was reversed and ordered to try the case on the merits. On the issue of locus stand, Justice Davidy held: "Every gunaration has a responsibility to preserve (the) rhythm and har mony (of nature) for the full enjoyment al a balanced and healthful ecology...(The) minors' assertion of their right to a sound environ ment constitutes, at the same time, the performance of their obli- gation to ensure the protection of that right for the generations to come