4. 67 lives were ensued during the firefights
▻ 18 MILF Fighters
▻ 5 Civilians
▻ 44 SAF members
4
5. ▰ Retired Chief Superintendent Diosdado Valeroso is holding
a critical evidence in a form of digital audio recording of a
conversation between a high-ranking government official
and a legislator attempting to cover up the events
surrounding the encounter
▰ But he told reporters that during the conversation, one of
them was telling the other not to mind what happened in
Mamasapano as it may delay the ongoing peace talks
between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF)
▰ Source: ABS-CBN News (January 23, 2016). https://news.abs-
cbn.com/nation/01/23/16/retired-cop-claims-he-has-audio-recording-on-
mamasapano-cover-up
5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM481nexa98
6. ANTI-WIRETAPPING ACT (RA 4200)
▰ Any communication or spoken word, or the
existence, contents, substance, purports, or
meaning of the same or any part thereof, or any
information therein contained obtained or secured
by any person in violation of the preceding section
of this Act shall not be admissible in evidence in
any judicial, quasi-judicial, legislative or
administrative hearing or investigation
(Sec. 4, Anti-wiretapping Act, RA 4200)
6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxKbpXy0wLE
7. ANTI-WIRETAPPING ACT (RA 4200)
▰ The Anti-Wiretapping Act of 1965 (RA 4200, entitled “An Act to
Prohibit and Penalize Wire Tapping and other Related Violations of
the Privacy of Communication, and for other Purposes”) prohibits
and penalizes wire tapping done by any person to secretly
overhear, intercept, or record any private communication or spoken
word of another person or persons without the authorization of all
the parties to the communication. Those who knowingly possess,
replay, or communicate recordings of wiretapped communications
(section 1) as well as those who aid or permit wiretapping (section
2), are likewise held liable.
7
State of Privacy Philippines (2019).
https://privacyinternational.org/state-privacy/1009/state-privacy-
philippines#:~:text=The%20Anti%2DWiretapping%20Act%20of,any%20private%20communication%20or%20spoken
8. 8
▰ “Sinabi ni Sen. Drilon na ito daw ay illegal, na hindi
daw pwede, na ako daw ay pwedeng maging liable
kung ito daw ay ipapakinig ko sa senado, ako
naman, ano ba itong mga batas na ito? Ang mga
batas na ito ay para malaman natin ang
katotohanan at magkaroon tayo hustisya”
9. QUESTIONS?
▰ Can the government infringe individual rights?
▰ If it’s permissible, when can the government do
so?
▰ Does it become legitimate to sacrifice
individual rights when considering the greatest
benefit for the greatest number of people?
9
10. UTILITARIANISM
Considering the permissibility of
wiretapping, means calculating the
costs and benefits of wiretapping.
If we calculate the costs and benefits
of our actions gives premium to the
consequences of actions as the basis of
morality
10
COSTS BENEFITS
11. UTILITARIANISM
▰ Root word, “utility” which refers to the “usefulness”
▰ Is an ethical theory that argues for the goodness of pleasure and the
determination of right behavior based on the usefulness of the action’s
consequences.
▰ It claims that one’s action and behavior are good inasmuch as they are directed
toward the experiences of the greatest pleasure for the greatest number of
persons.
12. UTILITARIAN THINKERS
▰ Born on February 15, 1748 in London, England.
▰ Wrote about the greatest happiness principle of ethics
▰ Advocate of economic freedom, women’s rights, separation of
church and state.
▰ An advocate of animals’ rights, abolition of slavery, death penalty,
and corporal punishment for children
▰ Denied individual legal rights and the Natural Law
Dominican College of Tarlac
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Jeremy Bentham
(1748-1832)
13. UTILITARIAN THINKERS
▰ Born on May 20, 1806 in Pentonville, London, United
Kingdom. Son of James Mill, a friend and disciple of
Jeremy Bentham.
▰ His ethical theory and defense of utilitarian views are found
in his long essay entitled “Utilitarianism”(1861).
Dominican College of Tarlac
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John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873)
15. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: GREATEST PLEASURE
▰ The action is good if it leads to useful consequence
▰ The consequence is useful if it provides pleasure .
▰ Pleasure is equated to happiness
▰ Moral value as utility is whatever action that produces happiness or
pleasure
Dominican College of Tarlac
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Jeremy Bentham
(1748-1832)
16. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: GREATEST PLEASURE
▰ Actions are governed by two “sovereign masters”,
pleasure and pain. These masters are given to us by
nature to help us determine what is good or bad and
what ought to be done and not
▰ The principle of utility is about our subjection to these
sovereign masters.
▻ Motivation of our actions as guided by our
avoidance of pain and our desire for pleasure
▻ Pleasure is good only if it produces more
happiness than unhappiness.
Dominican College of Tarlac
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17. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: GREATEST PLEASURE
▰ Utilitarianism is a HEDONISTIC MORAL
THEORY (hēdonē means “pleasure”)
▰ This means that the good is equal to the
pleasant, and we ought, morally to pursue
pleasure and happiness and work to avoid
pain.
Dominican College of Tarlac
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HAPPINESS
/ PLEASURE
PAIN
18. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: GREATEST PLEASURE
▰ According to Bentham and Mill, the pursuit for happiness
and the avoidance of pain are the only important principle
in assessing action’s morality.
▰ It’s what justifies why we do the things we do.
▻ Why do you go to school despite of risk on safety?
▻ Why do you work despite of conflict in schedule?
There’s no other answer than the principle of utility, that
is to increase happiness and decrease pain.
Dominican College of Tarlac
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HAPPINESS
/ PLEASURE
PAIN
19. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: GREATEST PLEASURE
Give an example of action that results to
pleasure/ happiness.
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20. QUESTIONS!
▰ Are all pleasures/happiness necessarily
and ethically good?
▰ If not, what kind of pleasure is morally
preferable and valuable?
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21. QUESTIONS!
▰ Does this mean that because
eating or exercising is good, it
is morally acceptable to eat and
exercise excessively?
Dominican College of Tarlac
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22. QUESTIONS!
▰ Is it justified to condone
excessive pleasures at
the expense of others or
while others are
suffering?
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24. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: GREATEST NUMBER
▰ Utilitarianism is not EGOISTIC THEORY which says
that everyone ought, morally to pursue their own
good
▰ Utilitarianism is OTHER-REGARDING which says that
we should pursue pleasure or happiness not just for
ourselves, but for as many sentient beings as
possible even it would mean sacrificing your own
happiness and pleasure.
Dominican College of Tarlac
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Jeremy Bentham
(1748-1832)
26. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: THE GREATEST NUMBER
▰ Bentham provides a framework for
evaluating pleasure and pain commonly
called Felcific Calculus.
▰ Felicific calculus – a common currency
framework that calculates the pleasure
that some actions can produce
Dominican College of Tarlac
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HAPPINESS
FELICIFIC
CALCULUS
27. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: THE GREATEST NUMBER
Felicific Calculus
In this framework an action can be evaluated on the
basis of the following:
▰ Intensity or strength of the pleasure
▰ Duration or length of the experience of pleasure
▰ Certainty or uncertainty or the likelihood that
pleasure will occur
▰ How soon there will be pleasure
▰ The number of people who will attain pleasure.
Dominican College of Tarlac
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28. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: THE GREATEST NUMBER
▰ The principle of utility must distinguish pleasures
qualitatively and not merely quantitatively
▰ There two kinds of pleasure: higher intellectual
pleasures and lower base pleasures
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John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873)
29. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: THE GREATEST NUMBER
▰ Utilitarianism doesn’t promote the
kind of pleasures appropriate to
pigs or to any other animals.
▰ Intellectual pleasure are
preferable than purely sensual
appetites
Dominican College of Tarlac
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30. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY: THE GREATEST NUMBER
• “It is better to be dissatisfied
as human, than to be satisfied
as animal”
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31. PRINCIPLE OF GREATEST NUMBER
▰ Utilitarianism is interested with the best
consequence for the highest number of people.
▰ If we are the only ones satisfied by our actions, it
does not constitute a moral good.
▰ It is based solely and exclusively on the
difference it makes on the world’s total amount
of pleasure and pain
Dominican College of Tarlac
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32. QUESTION!
▰ If actions are based only of the greatest
happiness of the greatest number, is it
justifiable to sacrifice or let go of some
rights for the sake of the benefits of the
majority?
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34. JUSTICE AND MORAL RIGHTS
▰ Mill understands JUSTICE as respect for rights directed
toward society’s pursuit for the greatest happiness of the
greatest number.
▰ RIGHTS are valid claim on society and justified by utility.
▰ All rights are justified as long as they serve general
happiness.
Example: Right to due process, right to free speech or
religion, right to vote and right to life.
Dominican College of Tarlac
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John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873)
35. JUSTICE AND MORAL RIGHTS
▰ Utilitarianism is associated with the possession of legal and moral
rights. We are treated justly when our legal and moral rights
respected.
▰ Legal Rights are rights that people have under some legal system,
granted by duly authorized legal authority or government.
▰ Moral Rights accorded under some system of ethics. These might be
grounded in mere humanity – they might be rights that all people
deserve just because they are humans or rational beings.
Dominican College of Tarlac
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John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873)
36. JUSTICE AND MORAL RIGHTS
▰ When legal rights are not morally justified in
accordance to the greatest happiness principle, they
are objectionable.
▰ At an instance of conflict between moral and legal
rights, moral rights takes precedence over legal rights.
▰ While it can be justified why others violate legal rights,
it is an act of injustice to violate an individual’s moral
rights.
▰ Moral rights are only justifiable by considerations of
greater overall happiness.
Dominican College of Tarlac
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Moral Rights
Legal Rights
37. SUMMARY:
▰ Utilitarianism is concern about the consequences of an action as basis of morality
▰ Moral good is equated with pleasure or happiness, but not merely self-gratification,
but also the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people
▰ Bentham suggests his Felicific calculus to be used for quantifying moral valuation.
While Mill provides a criterion for comparative pleasures.
▰ Mill argues that rights are socially protected interest that are justified by their
contribution to the greatest happiness.
▰ Respect for individual rights can be overridden to promote the better welfare
especially in circumstances of conflict valuation
Dominican College of Tarlac
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39. Share your argument on the following cases
using the principles on Utilitarianism :
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▰ Sen. F. Drilon, using the
Anti-wire tapping act law to
protect the right for privacy
of the two high-ranking
officials during the Senate
Hearing on the SAF 44
Case.
40. Share your argument on the following cases
using the principles on Utilitarianism :
Dominican College of Tarlac
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▰ Mideo Cruz, exercises his
right of expression through
arts using religious
symbols with phallic
objects
