Justice Justiniano Montero, judge of the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), gave a lecture on Ethics and Corruption, in which he stated that the best parameter of control in public institutions of any nature is to educate people on the moral importance of the public function.
The judge, who is also a member of the Ibero-American Commission on Judicial Ethics, explained that there is a need for an exercise of public policies to guide on what should be ethics in public administration, especially as a systematic induction in each institution, each state institution must assume within its strategic planning this pillar and invest in this axis, as a way to contribute to what are called soft skills. This is not a problem of sanction but of prevention, inasmuch as ethical preservation is the vision that avoids the act that becomes a disciplinary type.
"It is necessary to raise awareness of these parameters, so that you practice them in your actions, in your actions, and this way of conceiving this model of civil servant performance is what is called in moral doctrine as ethics applicable to public servants," he explained during the conference.
Magistrate Montero considered that the individualism practiced by society generates a moral and functional illiteracy in terms of capabilities, which is reflected in the saying "look for mine now". Likewise, he assured that such behavior constitutes a lack of moral development.
"This behavior is hurting yourself and your family in health, in education, because you have no critical role in society, you feel you are one more damaged cell of a social body that if you follow this path advances to an ethical cancer regardless of whether the social body reaches its terminal phase," Judge Montero explained metaphorically, referring to the harmfulness of corrupt practices.
The judge, an academic and expert in judicial ethics, explained that this lack of moral development is considerably accentuated in Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The theme of the construction of a model of moral education in today's societies inextricably links public ethics and good governance as essential axes, according to the speaker's assertion.
The lecture Ethics and Corruption, held within the framework of the Judicial Power 2024 Conference, was attended by magistrates of the Supreme Court; as well as judges from different jurisdictions of the country, jurists, foreign delegations. Also members of the Institute of High Studies of Ibero-America, formed by 5 countries of the region who attended this important activity.