Mabini was, next to Emilio Aguinaldo, the most powerful man in the First Republic. There were many opportunities and temptations to use that power for his own ends, but he refused. He wrote about Aguinaldo over a century ago but the advice he gives holds true for people in office today. The words are sharp but they ought to be remembered:
To sum it up, the Revolution failed because it was badly led; because its leader won his post by reprehensible rather than meritorious acts; because instead of supporting the men most useful to the people, he made them useless out of jealousy. Identifying the aggrandizement of the people with his own, he judged the worth of men not by their ability, character and patriotism but rather by their degree of friendship and kinship with him; and anxious to secure the readiness of his favorites to sacrifice themselves for him, he was tolerant even of their transgressions. Because he thus neglected the people, they forsook him; and forsaken by the people, he was bound to fall like a waxen idol melting in the heat of adversity. God grant that we do not forget such a terrible lesson, learnt at the cost of untold suffering.
Mabini also said there was culture and virtue demanded by public office and that nobody should believe that one can serve his country with honor and glory only from high office, and this is an error which is very dangerous to the common welfare; it is the principal cause of the civil wars which impoverish and exhaust many states and contributed greatly to the failure of the Revolution. Only he is truly a patriot who, whatever his post, high or low, tries to do the greatest possible good to his countrymen. A little good done in a humble position is a title to honor and glory, while it is a sign of negligence or incompetence when done in high office. True honor can be discerned in the simple manifestations of an upright and honest soul, not in brilliant pomp and ornament which scarcely serve to mask the deformities of the body. True honor is attained by teaching our minds to recognize truth, and training our hearts to love it. The recognition of truth shall lead us to the recognition of our duties and of justice, and by performing our duties and doing justice we shall be respected and honored, whatever our station in life. Let us never forget that we are on the first rung of our national life, and that we are called upon to rise, and can go upward only on the ladder of virtue and heroism. Above all let us not forget that, if we do not grow, we shall have died without ever having been great, unable to reach maturity, which is proper of a degenerate race.
