HOW MANY times has the public heard an authority say: “I hold myself accountable” or “I take full responsibility” for something — declarations of seemingly important consequence, only to be let down when the words turn out to be empty?

Failure to deliver on a promise is one sure way of eroding public confidence in a figure of authority and many officials have lost that trust, most recently, the chief executive officer of Manila Water Co. Inc., the Ayala-led utility that supplies water to eastern Metro Manila.