Personal Gain and Public Accountability

By Grace Espiritu and Romy Devergara

In government, one is faced with two interests: personal gain and public accountability.  When there is abuse of power in public office for private gain, there is corruption. A government that is characterized as being unaccountable is a government that proves to be a fertile ground for the cultivation of dictatorship, tyranny, repression, oppression and every other type of abuse of power.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) describes corruption as detrimental to development. Corruption drives away investments and dries up public resources with reduced reserves. It increases costs and breeds wasteful allocation of money. ADB states that corruption weakens public institutions, especially those with distorted interests, those who put personal gains above public interests. These institutions have poor public services, inefficient and ineffective bureaucracy, thus creating public distrust and loss of confidence in the government.