STI- WEST NEGROS UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

MASTERS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

MPAD 510

Ethics in the Public Service

TERM PAPER

Submitted by:
Shaneikah Trespicio
Submitted to:
Ana Theresa R. Murillo, DPA

Ethics is an area of study that deals with ideas about what is good and bad
behavior while it could be also defined as a set of moral principles. Ethics is also the
governing principle in every profession may it be medical, teaching, public service, etc.
Ethics in the public service deals with the things that are expected of a
government employee especially the conduct on dealing with people. Every public
official and employee is mandated by law to follow a certain standards of personal
conduct in the discharge and execution of official duties. The first standard that a
government official or employee must follow is: Commitment to public interest. This
standards states that a government officials or employees must always uphold public
interest over private interest. And all government resources and the powers of their
respective offices must be employed and used efficiently, effectively, honestly, and
economically, particularly to avoid wastage in public funds and revenues. The second
standard is: Professionalism. Government officials or employees should perform and
discharge their duties with the highest degree of excellence, professionalism,
intelligence and skill. This also states that government officials or employees shall enter
public services with utmost devotion and dedication to duty and that they shall
discourage wrong perceptions of their roles as dispensers of undue patronage. The
third one is: Justness and Sincerity. It says that government officials or employees shall
remain true to people at all times. They must act with justness and sincerity and avoid
discrimination against anyone, especially the poor and underprivileged. They shall, at all
times, respect the rights of others, and shall refrain from performing acts contrary to
law, good morals, good customs, public policy, public order, public safety and public
interest. They should also not give undue favors on account of their office to their

relatives, whether by consanguinity or affinity except certain conditions. The next

standard is: Political Neutrality. It states that government officials or employees shall
provide service to everyone without unfair discrimination and regardless of party
affiliation or preference. Another standard is: Responsiveness to the public. Government
officials or employees shall extend prompt, courteous and adequate service to the
public. Unless otherwise stated by law or demanded by the public interest, government
officials or employees shall provide information on their policies and procedures in a
clear and understandable language, ensure openness of information, encourage
suggestions, avoid red tape, etc. The next standard is: Nationalism and Patriotism. It
states that government officials or employees shall be at all times, loyal to the Republic
and the Filipino people, promote the use of locally produced products, resources and
technology, and encourage appreciation and pride of country and people. Another
standard is: Commitment to Democracy. Government officials or employees shall
commit themselves to the democratic way of life and values, maintain the principle of
public accountability, and manifest by deeds, the supremacy of civilian authority over
the military. The last standard is: Simple Living. Government officials or employees and
their families shall lead modest lives appropriate to their positions and income. They
shall not indulge in extravagant display of wealth in any form.
Aside from the standards of personal conduct, a government official or employee
has certain obligations and duties to perform. The first one is to act promptly on letters
and request. All government officials or employees must respond within 15 days upon
receipt of letter, telegrams or any other means of communication sent by the public and
contained in the response is the action taken on the request. Another duty is submit

annual performance reports. All heads or other officials in charge of the government and
the government-controlled corporations shall submit a performance report of the agency
or office or corporation concerned within 45 working days from the end of the year. Such
report will be open to the public within regular office hours. Another duty that a
government official or employee must do is process documents and paper expeditiously.
All official papers and documents must be processed and completed within a
reasonable amount of time from the preparation thereof and must contain at least 3
signatories. Acting immediately on publics personal transactions is also a duty of a
government official or employee. All government officials or employees must attend
promptly to anyone who wants to avail the services of their offices. Last duty of a
government official or employee is to make documents accessible to the public. All
public documents must be made accessible and readily available for inspection by the
public within reasonable working hours.
The Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees
or commonly known as RA 6713 declares several practices as unlawful. The examples
of these are: Financial and material interest which states that a government official or
employee shall not have any financial or material interest in any transaction requiring
the approval of their officers may it be directly or indirectly; Outside employment and
other related activities which states that government official or employee during their
incumbency shall not: own, control, manage or accept employment as officer, counsel
broker, agent, etc in any enterprise regulated or licensed by their officers unless
otherwise allowed by law, government official or employee shall not engage in the
private practice of their professions unless authorized by the Constitution or by law and

just as long as it does not conflict with their official functions, government official or
employee shall not recommend any person to any position in a private enterprise which
has a regular or pending official transaction with their officers; Disclosures and/or
misuse of confidential information which means that government officials or employees
shall not divulge confidential or classified information officially known to them by reason
of their office and not made available to the public either to further their private interest
or to prejudice the public interest; lastly, Solicitation or Acceptance of gifts which states
that government officials or employees not solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any
gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan, or anything of monetary value from any person
in the course of their official duties.
Upon reading everything regarding ethics in the public service, its sad to say that
even though Im now part of the public service, I can say that mostly none of these
things stated above are followed or few are only followed. Like for example, one of the
duties of government officials or employees is that they must attend promptly to anyone
who wants to avail the services of their offices. If we watch televisions, listen to radios or
even surf the internet, we can see news regarding complaints on the slow service of
some government agencies. I, myself, had experienced such slow service of a
government agency and it was during the time that we went to NBI. My friends and I
woke up early just to get a form from them and to process our documents for only a day
but it took us like 3 days just to finish everything and get our certificate and one of my
friends is even unlucky because she had a hit on her record which required her to go
back another day. I also saw some posts on Facebook regarding the processing of
drivers license in the LTO which would take a lot of their time and effort and they would

also complain regarding the quality of their ids. Also if we discussed one of the
standards of personal conduct in the discharge and execution of official duties which is
commitment to public interest, how many times did we see on the news that a public
official or employee had use the money of the government for their own sake? I cant
even count anymore because even some of our presidents had been accused and even
jailed for such reasons. Acceptance of gifts is also practiced mostly in all agencies
though I think it is just human nature to give someone a token of appreciation for the
help that he/she has given but as part of the ethics in the public service it is prohibited.
Maybe these things are happening because we, Filipinos, are already losing our
patriotic touch. Its because if we are patriotic enough, we would work for the
improvement and development of our country and that public interest would always be
number one. However, it is a sad reality that mostly all of us cater our personal interest.
I just hope that we would be awaken and realize that if we dont work for the future of
our country, what would happen to the next generation, to our future children, to our
future grandchildren. We are the hopes of the future generation and it is our duty to give
them a better place to live thus lets start the change that we want to see, the change
that begins in all of us.