Ethics and Accountability of

Public Officials:
INTRODUCTION
PROF. LUISITO V. DELA CRUZ
 ETHICS AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN
GENERAL
 Life in general is full of ETHICAL or MORAL dilemmas
 Man – a being capable of reason - concept of ‘rationality’
 Confronted by choices
 Choices – involves decisions
 Understand a specific situation:
 What shall I do?
 What are the alternatives?
 Why will I decide the way I will do?
 Alternatives are often conflicting in terms of:
 Results
 Reason for choosing it
 Ex. Universal Concepts sometimes conflict with particular instances
 Most of the time, it is very hard to get out of these kinds of dilemmas
 What are you going to do with this?
 These Moral/Ethical Dilemmas
 THERE ARE CONFLICTING VIEWS
 Require us to reflect on our values
 Make us think of what is important to us
 Question our fundamental beliefs and principles
 Compel us to weigh options and alternatives
 For public administrators, this is very hard at times
 Ex. How do you resolve the seeming problem of transparency vs order?
 Or whether the vaccine should be mandatory (policy-making)
 Or whether to impose border restrictions?
 Eventually, YOU must DECIDE!
 MORAL JUDGEMENT – choosing a course of action
 To mitigate this…. We try to make RULES
ETHICS

 Study of the general nature of morals and specific moral choices

 What constitutes right and wrong, good and evil?
 What one ought to do
 Founded on human capacities (reason and/or sentiments) and human values in deciding for
human conduct
 Traditional Theorizing: Predicated with the view of human nature
 Social dimension: Individual, society, state
 Presupposes: STANDARDS (This is also a core concept in Accountability)
 Based on Human Values and Human Capacities
 General Divisions of Ethics as a Discipline
 Normative Ethics
 Prescriptive ethics – prescribes norms, rules, and standards to follow in human actions
 Human actions are being judged based on specific philosophical or ethical theory or rules
 Prescribes how one should act or behave
 Ex. WPS – This is how Duterte should act – because of these rules
 Substantive/Descriptive/NonNormative Ethics
 Provides the manner in understanding ethical issues
 Merely describes how a person behaves in a specific circumstance
 Ex. Duterte did this, because… THERE IS NO VALUE-JUDGEMENT
 Our study will be guided by both of these. Usually, substantive ethics is necessary to have a better
prescription or judgement about an issue.
 We should first understand why before we judge (Distinguishes mere political opinion to analysis)
 ACCOUNTABILITY
 One of the most, if not the most, important elements of good government
 The concept is both simple (apparent meaning-constitutive function) and equivocal (can be
complex)
 Duality as to how accountability can be discussed (dela Cruz, 2013):
 Abstract ethical principle or value
 Concept of State – founded on an imagined ideal
 Based on the relationship between the STATE and CITIZENS (regardless of type of govt.), which is founded on
TRUST – STATE exists because of trust
 Government is the mechanism of STATE to actualize its will
 Accountability is the basis of that TRUST – ideal that someone or something is responsible to State action

 Instrumentality or control of super-authority

 Provides for standards and measures to evaluate and assess culpability
 Manner as to how the ‘super-authority’ imposes responsibility over actions being done
 Sets the mechanisms and instrumentalities to render the abstract principle in actuality
Presuppositions/Requisites of Accountability
(dela Cruz, 2013)
 Accountability presupposes a ‘super-authority’ – involves power relationships and power
dynamics
 To whom someone or something will be accountable
 Does not necessitate an office exists
 Accountability presupposes social and public entity
 From whom accountability is expected
 It requires that social or political tasks, roles, and duties have been bestowed
 ‘Authorization’ – someone or something had been entrusted with power, tasks, or resources (give
an account of use or non-use of these)
 Decisions will affect other people
Types of Accountability
 Managerial Accountability
 “Accountability relating to managerial functions within public or private sector entity or
organization” (UN, 2007)
 Holding those with delegated authority accountable for the agreed actions taken in accordance
with respective responsibilities.
 Also called as bureaucratic accountability – within an organization
 Ex. EA to Principal, Admin to LCE, Usec. Or Asec. To Sec
 Political Accountability
 “Focuses upon the need to account for an organizational behavior to the constituencies and
stakeholders impacted upon by its decision”
 Political leaders
 Ex. LCE to the people, President to the citizens, Policy-makers to people
 Note: They vary in the effects of the decisions and how the effects, if a decision is done,
can be mitigated
To Whom or What Accountability Can Be
Expected
 Person or a group of people
 The most common in the Philippines
 Very limited view of accountability
 As a result, responses had been based on personality
 System
 Agency
 Specific agencies or bigger agencies
 Whole Institution
 Government, Religious Institution
 Entity
 Media, civil society, educational entities
 Why Ethics and Accountability in Public
Service???
 Fundamental to the existence of State (as alluded, TRUST)
 Whole system of government is anchored on these concepts
 More so in Representative Democracy – embodiment of the people’s aims, goals, values
 Decisions – affect individuals; affect their life and existence (here and now)
 Power and resources are shared (private vs public accountability)
Ethics and Accountability in Public Service

 Presupposes certain standards, rules, or yardsticks

 Based on core values and prevalent institutional views
 Definitely cannot be based on:
 Hypocrisy
 Double standards
 Dishonesty
 Personal whim
 Priviledged private interests
 Priviledged group interests
 What are the bases therefore of E and A in PS???
Determinants/Imperatives/Infrastructure of
Ethics and Accountability (dela Cruz, 2013)
 Philosophical Imperative
 Legal Imperative
 ‘Political Construct’ Imperative
 Public Administrative Construct Imperative
 Cultural and Social Imperative
Ethics and Accountability Infrastructure (dela Cruz, 2013)

Cultural Social
Imperative

Philosophical Legal
Imperative Accountable Imperative
Government

Pamahalaang
May Dangal

Public
Political
Administrative
Constructive
Construct
Imperative
Imperative
1. Philosophical Imperative
 Sets of rules and perspectives that had been integrated to the ‘infrastructure’ of ethical
standards
 Provides some universal-value formulations
 Renders specific ethical perspectives to issues
 Based on philosophical concepts and assumptions that had been developed
 In the Philippines, this is highly western-centered
 Abstract or theoretical assumptions that describe and define different moral and ethical
issues
 Focused on Normative Ethics
 General Normative Ethics
 Applied Normative Ethics
2. Political Construct Imperative
 Administering the public is part and parcel of a political system
 State – constructs its political infrastructure (Type and system – founded on political
values)
 Notions of accountability and ethical principles are linked with the political structure of
the state
 This imperative cannot be universal – ‘context or construct’ specific
 Dependent on the type of system of a given society
 There are standards that one impose in System A that are not applicable with System B
 Ex. Political Leadership – different if the type of system is democratic or authoritarian
 Basis of accountability = how the conduct of affairs promote and advances the type of
system the State adheres into
 Ex. Imperatives in a Democratic Society
 One of the most coherent ethical parameters was the one developed by Hans Kelsen (Austrian
Philosopher/Jurist) – Foundations of Democracy (1955) – although he specialized in Pure Theory
of Law
 Rendered the notion of freedom and the basic conceptions of democracy its application
 Majority Vote Principle
 No matter how you view an issue
 Democratic Personality that translates to Democratic Leadership
 Leadership Value – depends on the consent of the governed
 Principle of Tolerance
 Representation of ideas
 Rationality and Procedure
 Subjected to rational deliberations
 Free and Fair Elections
 Classifications of Ethical Theories
 Consequentialist - Perspectivist
 Keywords: end, purpose, intention
 Basis: Consequence – rightness or wrongness depends on its consequences
 Maximum amount of good or minimum amount of bad (based on results)
 Result that comes out of actions: “The means are justifiable as long as you meet the ends.”
 Deontological
 Deon – duty
 Bases of morality are set of rules or laws
 Rules are pre-given and principles are pre-set
 Right action is required by moral rules
 Virtue Ethics
 Middle
Hedonism

 Right action must result to quality of physical pleasure it promotes or physical pain it
avoids
 Good – physical/sensual pleasure
 “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow, you will die.”
 The good life for the one living it.
 However, this is problematic.
 Modified and developed by other schools of thought
 Egoism
 Action is right if it promotes personal interest
 Adam Smith: Man is selfish (advancing his interest) by nature: SELF-PRESERVATION
 However, personal interest is not just referring to now but also referring in the long run
 Hence, you may pursue the interest of others if it secures your own interest in the long run
 Duty to cooperate? Yes. If it will serve my interest.
 Basic principle of foreign policy
 Sometimes you may sacrifice for the moment, but you will gain eventually
 Ex. Helping others….with personal ambitions
Classic Utilitarianism
 From the word util – useful –inutile – not useful, walang pakinabang
 Value-judgement is based on how useful or beneficial an action is to be good
 Understand actions based on the ‘scope of relevant consequence’
 Jeremy Bentham (18th century political philosopher)
 There are no intrinsic good or bad actions – depends on the effects of actions Ex. Policies cannot be
intrinsically bad.
 Greatest happiness for the greatest number of people
 Political Ethics: within Bentham’s social reform goal
 Act Utilitarianism – focused on the quantity of pleasure
 John Stuart Mill (19th century)
 Twisted Bentham by indicating that there are pleasures that must be avoided for higher pleasures
(happiness)
 Ex. Imposition of taxation
 General interests and general welfare
 Marginalizing… but isn’t the basic tenets of democracy marginalizing?
 Instrumentalism or Pragmatism
 William James and John Dewey
 There are no standard basis of good and bad - no intrinsic good and bad actions
 Views actions as instruments to solve specific problems
 Good – if it offers solution to solving a problem
 Morality – “context driven”
 There is no ultimate end and supreme ethical principle
 Everything is dependent on its capacity to offer solutions
 Value Judgements as Instruments Judgement
Deontology
 From the Greek word Deon = duty
 The basis of morality are sets of rules
 There are universal sets or principles of morality – rules, it is the duty of each individual to
follow
 No matter what the outcome, these universal rules of right and wrong must always be
upheld
 What then are the rules???
 There are different types of deontological ethics – each of them offers their own set of
rules and laws that will govern human behavior
 Most of them are offering general ethical principles, however, there are some that offers
politico-administrative implications
 Divine Command Theory
 Moral theory and the notion of good and bad are based on conception of SUPREME BEING –
GOD – Teachings of God
 Teachings – usually codified
 For the longest time, states are subdued with the codified teachings of religious beliefs
 State affairs and conduct of governance were dependent on religion
 Greatest Challenge – Secularism
 Exemplified by Separation of Church and State
 However, there are States that still incorporate DCT in their government and justice system
 Ex. Muslim Countries (PD 1083- incorporated in Bangsamoro)
 Shariah – this is becomes integrated to their system of laws
 Applicable to either/or any of the frameworks: constitutional, criminal, and family relations
 Theory of Islamic Jurisprudence
 Natural Rights Theory
 Human beings are bestowed by some basic or natural rights
 These rights are not given to them by the STATE – it merely affirms and protects those rights
 Thomas Hobbes (1651 – Leviathan)
 This is related to his conception of social contract
 Coming from his view about man’s ‘state of nature’ – State of war
 “..to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own Nature; that is to say, of his own
Life.”
 John Locke (1689 – Two Treatises of Government)
 Basis of US Declaration of Independence
 Justification of Revolution in England, which deposed James II in 1688
 In the second treatise, provided the basis for the balance of power and authority to rights and freedom
 Bilateral social contract – Monarch and the people
 Concept of Inalienable rights (still upheld today - Human Rights - enlarged)
 Life, Liberty, Property
 Social Contract Theory
 Presuppositions provided by Hobbes
 Moral and political obligations are dependent upon an agreement- ‘contract’
 Right is a fruition of rules and institutions established in society
 Formation of peaceful cooperation and harmonious co-existence
 ‘Legitimation’ is sine qua non – contract
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1762)
 Freedom as a status – man only obeys himself – will lead to anarchy
 To remedy the social ills of society – development (private property) – envy, inequality, greed, vice
 Private Property – humanity’s ‘fall from grace’
 Submit our ‘individual will’ to ‘general will’ (general will – civil liberty)
 Creation of Sovereign Power – collective will of individuals who agreed to be part of society
 However, needs ‘Unanimous Consent’ – to be part of the State
 Direct Democracy – Rep. ‘People are free only in casting their votes’
 Theory of Justice – John Rawls (1972)
 Social contract account of Justice
 Original Position – universal rule that must be carried out in account of Justice
 Justice as Fairness
 Can be attained through Veil of Ignorance – impartiality (everybody must come from an
objective point of view – gender, race, talent, status, etc. Must be suspended)
 Two principles of Justice as fairness:
 Guarantees to each person basic liberty and these rights are granted to everyone
 Equality of opportunities enabling all to fairly compete for powers and positions
 Discourse Ethics – Theory of Communicative
Action – Jurgen Habermas
 Communicative Action
 Action aimed at understanding – based upon mutual deliberation and argumentation
 Strategic action – imposition of political power aimed at domination.
 A rule of action or choice is justified, and thus valid, only if all those affected by the rule or choice
could accept it in a reasonable discourse
 The idea of public autonomy means that the legitimacy of ordinary legislation must ultimately be
traceable to robust processes of public discourse that influence formal decisionmaking in
legislative bodies.
 Public Sphere is vital – Representative Democracy
 Communicative Democracy
 Legitimacy – dependent on the force of the better argument
 Nagkakaintindihan ba????
 3. Legal Imperative
 Byproduct of all the imperatives
 Set of rules that officials are bound to follow
 Provides you what to do, what not to do, and how will you do it
 If one adheres – you are doing your duty well
 If one does not adhere – disapprobation
 Phils. – this becomes rather sketchy – adheres – hero; if not - normal
 Punitive
 Easiest form of imperative – clear, unequivocal, checklist
 Rests on the capability and efficiency of institutions both to maintain adherence and to render
justice to those who are deviant
 Ex. Institutional Accountability – NTF ELCAC – DEFUND!
 4. Public Administrative Construct Imperative

 While the political imperative lays down the basic epistemology of the political system, public
administrative tradition puts them into practice
 Theory – Praxis
 Provides the manner to operationalize the theoretical principles of the system
 How do we actually implement those imperatives?
 Provides rules and norms in the actual conduct of affairs of governments and institutions
 Called as Administrative, Bureaucratic, Managerial Templates
 Normally, this provides clear parameters as to how governance must be conducted
 Classical Public Administration
 Max Weber 1887 - Woodrow Wilson actualized
 Keyword: EFFICIENCY
 Public service at the minimum cost
 Focused on organizational dimensions of administration
 Formal Organization
 Scientific Management
 Bureaucratization
 Values
 Division of Labour
 Departmentalization
 Coordination
 Functional Processes
 Structure
 Control
New Public Administration and New Public
Management
 Osborne and Gaebler (1992) – Principle of Reinvention
 New – it tries to correct the shortcomings of the ‘old’
 Result of market-oriented forces - Market Liberalism
 Influenced by Private Sector Management Approach
 Entrepreneurial Management
 The Government must be treated like how a company or corporation is being governed
Principles of Reinvention (Osborne and
Gaebler (1992)published 1995
 Catalytic government: steering rather than rowing
 Community-owned government: empowering rather than serving
 Competitive government: injecting competition into service delivery
 Mission-driven government: transforming rule-driven organizations
 Results-oriented government: funding outcomes, not inputs
 Cutomer-driven government: meeting the needs of the customers
 Enterprising government rather than spending
 Anticipatory government: prevention rather than cure
 Decentralized government: from hierarchy to participation and teamwork
 Market-oriented government: leveraging change through the market
Some of the most apparent solutions provided
by this approach in the Phils.
 Decentralization
 Democratization
 Delegation
 Debureaucratization

 Mission
 Custormer-driven
 Enterprising Government
 Privatization
 Liberalization
 Government as Corporation
 From Governance to GOOD Governance
 “The sound exercise of political, economic, and administrative authority to manage a country’s
resources for development. It involves the institutionalization of a system through which citizens,
institutions, organizations, and groups in a society articulate their interests, exercise their rights,
and mediate their differences in pursuit of the collective good “(Country Governance Assessment
2005).
 Focus: Economic, Political, Administrative
 This is the response of PA to the prevalence of corruption and mismanagement to Third World
Countries
 Has been integrated with the frameworks of different International Organizations, Regional
Cooperation Networks, and Aid Management Programs to Poor Countries
 Impinges on the exercise of control and over-all view of public administrative systems and
processes
Pillars of Good
Governance
 The UN has adopted several
indicators of these framework
 These are the general themes and
norms of good governance
 Cultural and Social Imperative
 ”If systems and processes of governance and leadership styles are to be effective, these must be
within the social and cultural milieu of the governed.” (Dela Cruz, 2020)
 Goes for bottom-up rather than top-down approach
 “a ‘grounded’ public administration can be characterized as such if it exudes leadership styles,
institutional processes, and governance- related concerns that are within the values, goals and
aims, and traits of being Filipino. In other words, a gaze that discharges ‘Filipino-ness’ is an
authentic Philippine public administration.”
 Presuppositions:
 There is political, public administrative, and/or governance ethos to begin with
 Recognition that this exists (not just in the academe but in real praxis)
 This ethos will be integrated with institutional processes and principles
 ”Unless public administration learns Filipino ways, speaks the different languages of the
Philippines, uses Filipino values and aspirations, proposes solutions that are culturally, socially,
and historically grounded to the Philippines, there cannot be a real Philippine public
administration.” (AKO ULIT ITO!)
 However…
 This imperative has not been properly carried-out with our Institutions and Systems
 The other imperatives are given bigger weight over this
 Are notions of accountability based on this are manifesting?
 Voting behavior
 Patterns of choosing leaders
 Legitimizing who is supposed to be ‘evil’ based on other parameters
 Ex. Estrada, LGUs, Duterte
 What I call: ”Accountability of last resort”
 Condonation Doctrine – 1950s
 Focus: indigenous values, norms, and beliefs – leadership styles, governance directions, policy conception
 Sometimes they conflict with Western values: BOBO, TANGA, FANATICS, etc.
 Yellow democracy will not work – Isang Bayan – very elitist framework
 Indigenization vs Decoloniality – I am for Indigenization!
 Decoloniality – 1st step
 Tendency for nativism and extreme essentialism
 Syncretism and Amalgamation
What I opted to include:
 Pangulo
 Kinship
 Pagsasaayos
 Hiya
 Kapwa
 Loob
 Tulong

 These, whether we like it or not, are all part of our ‘accountability infrastructure’ in the
Philippines
 They may not be coded, but they are REAL!