Our human dignity cannot be taken away or remove from us even if we committed a crime or sin.

​Tayo ay
may dangal dahil tayo ay tao​. Human dignity is not based on being virtuous or being good. Ontologically
we have dignity because we are human beings. That is why it is a crime to torture and kill criminals or
suspected criminals who surrendered. EJK or extra-judicial killings of suspected drug users and pushers
are immoral and unlawful. Due process of law must be exercised to everyone.

Characteristics as a human person​ – potentially & by nature, God made us this way:

A. Open & Relational – even if we are an introvert person or shy we are by nature made open &
relational to others. What could violate this characteristic? If we fall into ​atheism & ​secularism (when
because of our successes, intelligence, and the comforts & solutions given by science and technology we
may fall into the temptation to be too self-sufficient denying and rejecting the need for God) we violate our
being open and relational to God. Besides being open & relational to others and the rest of creation, God
made us open and relational to Him. Other violations are: ​individualism (I, me, myself) and individualism
in the form of ​group mentality (barkada & family centeredness push to the extreme – when the barkada
becomes exclusive and will even cover up the wrongdoings of their friend; when family who owns a
corporation will not give the right salary to their employees or hacienda landowners will not give land to
farmworkers as provided by law… ​Showing no mercy or no pity for example in ​hazing, bullying, ​and in
Nazism.

B. Conscious & Rational - ​We are aware of our outgoing acts. We are created rational beings that can
distinguish right from wrong. We can violate this characteristic when we become too ​impulsive ​in our
actions when we fall into ​consumerism ​(​minsan nagsisisi tayo “bakit ko ba ito binili?”​), also the ​bad habit
of saying bad words or cursing (​naging habit na ang pagmumura kahit alam na masama​). We can
include atheism as a violation too - since God gave us rationality and consciousness to recognize that He
exists, there is a God, Remember the 5 proofs of St Thomas Aquinas using reason and
science/observation from human experience to prove the existence of God?

C. Embodied Spirit – Our body is good and is given dignity by God (see supplementary notes) What we
do to our body affect our whole being. A ​prostitute cannot say “​katawan ko lang naman hindi kaluluwa o
buong pagkatao” Other violations are related to ​vices that are seeking ​pleasure - bodily pleasure
(​hedonism​)that is inordinate(​sexual addiction ​such as ​pornography​) and harmful (​smoking, vaping,
alcoholism, drug addiction​)

D. Historical Reality - ​Each one’s story begins at the first moment of our existence in conception, hence
the violation will be ​abortion. ​God made us not only homo sapiens (thinking man) but also homoviator
(journeying man – capable of improving our lives and becoming better because of God’s gift of ​Hope​)
hence we should not lose hope that is to fall into ​despair; ​we should not also take our own life ​(suicide).

E. Unique yet fundamentally Equal – violations are the ff: ​racism (​Nazism as a form of being racist –
believing they are the superior race), ​discrimination​, ​communism (denying the uniqueness of every
individual), also ​envy​.