Inhuman resource

By ERNESTO F. HERRERA

I don’t know what Philip Morris looks for in its employees but I’m sure like most companies it professes some kind of integrity statement among its values as an organization. At least publicly.

And I am sure what its human resource manager, Robert Blair Carabuena, did to Saturnino Fabros, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) traffic enforcer he was caught on video slapping, punching and berating goes against whatever integrity statement it professes.

That Carabuena did it outside of his working hours is irrelevant. We cannot separate our personal from our professional character. Character is character. We always hear it being said that we should walk our talk, don’t we?

We get angry when we find out that our public officials live private lives so very different from the ones they cultivate in public. What, we can’t take our own medicine?

That Carabuena works in Philip Morris’s human resource department is doubly bothering.

Human resource people should be good judges of character. But what if they are “police characters” themselves! Would they be recruiting people who are just like them? And if so, does it mean this is what the company looks for in its employees?

Any company or organization should demand a certain sense of responsibility and accountability among its workers, from president down to the base level among staff. This doesn’t just hold true for government but also in the private sector. We should hold people accountable for their actions. And what they do outside of work matters just as much. Otherwise it’s just like going to Mass and being a saint during Sundays then living like a scoundrel for the rest of the week.

Human resource people are also supposed to be compassionate listeners. They are expected not to act rashly or out of anger. And yet Philip Morris’s boy acted like a raving lunatic. And to think that he wasn’t even being given a ticket! And to think that he was the one who violated traffic laws!

MMDA personnel are usually very easy to talk to. If you make a mistake, and you explain and apologize, a lot of times you can get away without a ticket, which is wrong in my book because rules are rules and they have to be enforced regardless. Still, it just goes to show you how easy it is to talk to them. There is absolutely no justification for berating them, much more hurting them, especially when they are in uniform trying to do their job.

I wonder, would Carabuena have acted that way if the guy who called his attention was a hagad, a motorcycle cop who’s packing heat? I don’t think so. Bullies bully only those they think can be bullied.

Carabuena didn’t know he was being videotaped. He didn’t know his lunatic episode would be plastered all over social media. He thought he could get away with it.

When the TV5 program “T3” initially tried to get his side, he refused and told the Tulfo brothers (host of T3) that he was planning to file charges against Fabros. The nerve and temerity of this guy really!

As of this writing Carabuena has never even bothered to apologize, either personally or publicly for what he did to Fabros.

So where is the sense of responsibility and accountability? We all make mistakes, we are all fallible but it is how we respond to our mistakes that defines character. If you make a mistake stand up and take the heat. Apologize. Resign even. By doing so, you demonstrate what kind of person you are.

If you are an executive in an organization, again whether in the public or private sector, you are supposed to be a role model to your staff. You are supposed to hold yourself to a higher standard. Your actions motivate your employees and subordinates so you have to act properly.

Whatever Philip Morris plans to do with its “executive” is up to the company. But if he is sanctioned or fired or whatever, I do hope that it is not just going to be done out of damage control. I hope the tobacco company will do the right thing out of a sense of shared responsibility and commitment to the common good.

Maybe they should give their employees a psyche evaluation. Perhaps a lot of them need professional treatment for their temper. Who knows?

But their boy Carabuena didn’t even bother to throw his tantrums behind closed doors. Worse, he victimized a lowly paid, widowed public servant who’s just trying to do his job to feed his six daughters. Is this symptomatic of a larger arrogance of the company he represents? I hope not.