Resigning public office is a moral act

By coincidence, I have been doing research, as part of my work, on the subject of resignation from elected. Paolo Duterte’s decision has come at a time when I am in the process of collating and digesting various instructive and illuminating papers on the subject and

I was impelled to do the research by the multiple problems that we face in national governance today because of the probable impeachment of and her mystical and deceptive defense against the mounting evidence of misconduct and incompetence in her work as chief magistrate.

Another motive force for my research - some to the extent of literally chaining

CJ Sereno clings to her seat

It is now fairly certain that the House judiciary committee will impeach

It is also probable that another - leagues will go before the House committee to testify to mishaps and rules violations in the high court.

that she will not resign.

On the advice of lawyers clinging to their retainers, she persists in her mercifully dropped her earlier defense that her position came to her from God.

A model of brevity and responsibility

Duterte is a model of brevity and responsibility.

In an emotional speech during council on Monday, the vice mayor cited the reasons for his resignation.

He explained: “There are recent unfortunate events in my life that - riage. These, among others, include the maligning of my reputation in the recent name-dropping incident case and the very public squabble with my daughter. The other person in this failed relationship is incorrigible and cannot be controlled. And I take responsibility for all that has happened as a result of a wrong decision to marry at a very young age.”

The vice mayor continued: “When I was growing up, my parents never failed to remind me of the value of the time-honored principle of (sense of propriety), and this is one of those instances of my life that I need to protect my honor and that of my children…I hereby tender my resig effective today December 25, 2017.”

Once the resignation is accepted district will become the vice mayor.

Resigning as a moral act

I turn my attention next to the fruits of my research.

First, let’s consider an article by Aron Demi, “On resigning as a moral act,” published in on November 24, 2016.

Demi is from Kosovo, and he writes from the perspective of his country’s 16 years of self- government. Demi’s an act of moral responsibility. I quote the relevant part of his article at length, because it illumines our own public life. Demi wrote:

“In a democratic liberal system of by laws and ethical codes. In contrast to authoritarian systems, in which the state leader, in democratic systems accountability is multi-dimensional.

Nowhere has the law ever served should exercise their public duties. In most cases, in practice the public between what is considered legal and illegal. It is exactly because of this middle ground that ethical codes exist to serve as guidance to those who carry the responsibility of public service and to indicate how to act in cases of moral dilemma while on duty…

Moral responsibility in exercising a public duty, especially when that is a managerial position, means that one takes responsibility not only for actions, but also inactions. Moral responsibility means being held responsible for actions and inactions of your subordinates which are under your management, and not only the managerial role.

Resignation cannot be regulated by laws. Resigning is a moral obligation of each individual, an act which needs be done every time that the exercise of health complications, lack of motivations, professional limitations, the promises, the low effectivity at work, or accountability for the action or inaction of the entire department one leads…

Resigning should not be considered an act of weakness, but as an ethical action which manifests the nature of public servants in inglorious events that happen while governing. In order for citizens to regain their trust in the state administration, today more than ever, we need public servants who are both able and have character.” ethical decision for individuals. Resignation also remains one of the basic moral resources for individuals of integrity. The option to resign reinforces integrity, buttresses responsibility, supports accountability, and can provide leverage and boundary drawing.

I argue that the moral reasons to dimensions of integrity. Individuals presumes that individuals have the capacity to make and keep promises, the competence to do the tasks of This article examines how failure in each of these areas generates strong moral reasons to resign.”

SC on public office

In the Philippines, we delude ourselves that because we have the with integrity. But the Ombudsman too much beholden to her politics and the man who appointed her.

The concept of the public trust relates back to the origins of democratic government and its seminal idea that within the public lies the true power and future of a society; therefore, whatever trust the public places in its

its ruling in

- ity, and duty created and conferred by law, by which for a given period, pleasure of the creating power, an individual is invested with some portion of the sovereign functions of the government, to be exercised by him Demi pointed me to the work of Patrick Dobel, a professor at the our political system is therefore not a natural right. It exists, when it ex ists at all, only because and by virtue

Professor Dobel wrote an essay of some law expressly or impliedly entitled: “The Ethics of Resigning” that creating and conferring it . . . There was published in the is no such thing as a vested interest

The ethics of resigning

An abstract of his essay reads: “