REINALYNE V.

VARIAS
MPA

1. Ethics relates to the philosophy behind a moral outcome. In order to spotlight acceptable and
unacceptable behavior within a specific situation, ethical behavior is defined. The term 'ethics'
also refers to understanding and adopting moral values within the home
or workplace that should be defined.

It relates to values commonly adhered to and fundamentals or meta-ethics in the immediate

surroundings. There are different types of ethics and the application of each differs from one
situation to another. In the case of normative ethics, the notion behind what declares an action
as 'right' or 'wrong' is derived and defined. In meta-ethics, judgmental properties within a
situation are investigated. Issues relating to the sensitivity of ontology, semantics and
epistemology are explored in this stream of ethics.

As to morality it refers to an adopted code of conduct within an environment and a set of agreed
upon rules for what are 'right' and 'wrong'. Morals have formed the spine of modern society,
religion and every individual's conscience. The conceptions changed in time and take on a
new meaning. For example, 'murder is immoral', but 'on the battlefield murder is
permissible'. In a way, morality is in sync with ethics. While one is abstract in
understanding, the other is defined and in the form of written code.

Morality addresses the ethical queries on the moral outcome of a specific situation.
The code of conduct formulated probes prohibitions, controversial behavior, standards
of belief systems and social conformity of morally 'right' behavior.

Morality and ethics are two words that seem closely interrelated and it is commonly observed
that people incorrectly substitute them for each other. A common incidence where the two terms
are thrown around is the business world or a business scenario. At the workplace a company
may adopt certain practices which are ethical but can seem immoral to its employees.
Ethics and morals may seem similar, but are in fact rather distinct. While morals constitute a
basic human marker of right behavior and conduct, ethics are more like a set of guidelines that
define acceptable behavior and practices for a certain group of individuals or society.
2. Accountability is generally the state of being liable, answerable, or accountable. Accountability
concerns the processes by which those who exercise power whether as governments, as
elected representatives or as appointed officials, must be able to show that they have exercised
their powers and discharged their duties properly Fox Meyer (1995) defines accountability as
the responsibility of government and its agents towards the public to achieve previously set
objectives and to account for them in public It is also regarded as a commitment required from
public officials individually and collectively to accept public responsibility for their own action and
inaction. The burden of accountability rests on each public functionary to act in the public
interest and according to his/her conscience, with solutions for every matter based on
professionalism and participation. Accountability in the public sector is broader than in the
private sector (Ole Ingstrup and Crookall, 1998). In the private sector, everyone in the company
is accountable to its board. But the public sector has additional accountability to its employees
and to its customers, the citizens who use the services.

Accountability mechanisms were required to render the decisions and behavior of public officials
responsible, not merely in the legal, political or bureaucratic senses of that term, but morally as
well. Ethical behavior, in short, required the presence of external accountability mechanisms in
all their various forms. In public administration, ethics has most often been associated with
standards of responsible behavior and professional integrity in light of the growth of the
administrative state and the expansion of discretionary powers to public sector.

3. Administrative accountability defined as the evolution of appointed career employees and

officials in terms of whether their actions are within or outside the bounds of their authority. Four
variants of accountability may be distinguished on the following dimensions: who is considered
accountable, to whom he is accountable, the standards or values he is accountable, and the
means by which he is accountable. Traditional accountability which focuses on the regularity of
fiscal transactions and faithful compliance as well as adherence to legal requirements and
administrative policies; managerial accountability which is concerned with efficiency and
economy in the use of funds, property, manpower and other resources; program accountability
which pays attention to the results of government operations; and process accountability which
empathizes procedures and methods of operation. Relating accountability with Public
Administration, a congruence of concerns is found in the types of accountability and the
varieties of Public Administration. Accountability may be promoted through the imposition of
external controls and through the inculcation of self-regulating values. The use of power,
 discretion, the processes of employee behavior regulation such as control, supervision,
influence and management and other extra-bureaucratic values bear upon accountability. There
is an increasing reliance on program content and participatory procedures, and stress on
negotiation and even self-determination of standards of accountability. Despite these changes,
however, problems of graft and corruption and the incongruence of official actions with public
interest remain.

The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines provides the basis of ethical and accountable behavior
in the public sector. Section 1 of Article XI states that: Public office is a public trust. Public
officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost
responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest
lives. This provision requires every public official and employee to exhibit and live certain values
while in government service. In addition, the State has been mandated by the Constitution to
maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures
against graft and corruption.

4. Public service professionalism is defined as the overall value that encompasses all other values
that guide the public service. They include loyalty, neutrality, transparency, diligence,
punctuality, effectiveness, impartiality, and other values that may be specific to the public
services of individual countries. Public service professionalism embraces the notion that those
people who join the public service need to be inculcated with shared values and trained in basic
skills to professionally carry out their official duties. Complementary to this process is a need to
set up management structures to ensure that a public service ethos and competence is
achieved. Public service ethics is defined as broad norms that delineate how public servants as
agents of the state and, where applicable, as members of an established profession such as
accounting, law, etc. should exercise judgment and discretion in carrying out their official duties.

A public service committed to professionalism and ethics is more likely to attain its goals if it has
in place an ethics infrastructure or its country, a national integrity system. These concepts
represent, in a sense, a system of rules, activities, and agents that provide incentives and
penalties for public officials to professionally carry out their duties and engage in proper
conduct. Initiatives promoting ethics include the addition of special measures which focus on
preventing, detecting and reporting, investigating, prosecuting and enforcing the appropriate
laws against misconduct, ranging from unethical to criminal acts. They should also focus on
creating an environment conducive to and training public servants to observe high standards of
conduct. In these endeavours, good example set by leadership is essential to the credibility of
the exercise.