DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

National Capital Region

Division City Schools Manila

MANILA SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL

Taft Ave., cor. Padre Faura St., Ermita, Manila

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

Objection, your Honor:

Candor versus Dishonesty

Jullian Clare P. Creus

Wyatt R. Lopez
 Table of Contents
References i
Abstract 1
1. Introduction 2
1.1 Rationale 2
1.2 Objective 3
1.3 Significance 3
2. Methodology 4
2.1 Form of Qualitative Research 4
2.2 Human Experience 4
2.3 Research Question 4
2.4 Filtering 4
2.5 Tool/Instrument 4
2.6 Framework 5
2.7 Method of Analysis 6
3. Findings 6
3.1 Terms and Concepts 7
3.2 Typology 7
4. Discussion 9
5. Conclusion 10
Acknowledgement 10
Appendices 11
Appendice A: Letters 11
Appendice B: Emails 14
Appendices C: Journal Entries 15
 Acknowledgement
The researchers would like to acknowledge the help of the key participants, for
providing their knowledge in the completion of this project.
The researchers would like to show gratitude to Mr. Herwin Gatdula and Dr.
Lolita P. Fernandez for their never-ending support, patience and consideration to the
researchers and their work. As a mentor, they has provided the researchers an extensive
personal and professional guidance and taught them a great deal about the topic of the
research. Furthermore, they encouraged the researchers to thrive, persevere and never
stop in discovering something new.
The hard work and effort also of their Capstone Instructor, Ms. Jana O. Alano
who continuously guides them into becoming better researchers. This paper would not be
possible without his help and guidance.
The researchers are grateful to Ms. Maria Eva S. Nacion for giving permission for
the seminar regarding Research Writing and Outlining to push through on Barotilla Hall,
as well as allowing them to conduct a study inside and outside of the school premises.
The work would not have been possible without the guidance of the school
administration.
The researchers' parents who are always there to support during the making of
this paper. Thank you for always believing and bringing out the best in them.
Lastly, the researchers would like to express their utmost gratitude to the Almighty God
for providing daily blessings and bestowing His divine mercy upon the researchers.
Because of His grace, the researchers surpassed every obstacle that came their way with
strength and faith.

i
 Objection, your Honor: Candor versus Dishonesty
1
Creus, Jullian Clare P.a, Lopez, 1Wyatt R.b
1
Manila Science High School, Manila, Philippines
a
jclarecreus@gmail.com, bwyattlpz@gmail.com

Abstract
In the Philippines, the Legal System here is made up of various backgrounds. This
diversity requires a deep understanding of the Code of Professional Responsibility, or the
Code, this dictate the way a lawyer should act within himself, the society, the court, and
the law. This research will tackle about the conflicts lawyer may feel regarding their
personal morals and legal ethics that they are required to follow as lawyers. By
conducting this research we will delve in a better understanding with what happens in
court and a lawyer. The research was done through emails that were sent to multiple
lawyers. Their replies were then synthesized and interpreted. The research showed that
some of the respondents only accepted cases that favored their honesty. On the other
hand, some respondents accepted cases and would rather plea for a lower sanction than
decline. Lastly, some respondents believed that being objective is very important because
it ensures the respondent’s credibility. This could possibly be because of varying
philosophies of the respondents.

Keywords:
Legal System, Code of Professional Responsibility, Morals and Legal Ethics, Lawyer

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I. INTRODUCTION
Law is a system of rules created and enforced in order to regulate behavior through
social or governmental institutions. It is defined as both the “Science of Justice” and the
“Art of Justice”. It is also a system that makes sure that the people in a community
follow the rules stated within its governing area. Legal Ethics, however, is the most basic
standard of conduct within any legal profession. It is the behavioral norms and morals
which govern judges and lawyers. This involves duties that members owe each other,
their clientele, and to the courts. Respect, Candor, Honesty, and professional
independence define the features of Legal Ethics (Robles, 2016).
In the Philippines, the Legal System here is made up of various backgrounds. This
diversity requires a deep understanding of the Code of Professional Responsibility, or
the Code. The Code establishes the principles and rules of conduct that all attorneys
should always follow when fulfilling their profession (Robles, 2019). The code consists
of multiple chapters, each individually tackling a subject. This research will focus on
Chapter III: The Lawyer and The Courts. This chapter consists of 10 canons focusing
on the behavior and principles a lawyer shall uphold in the court. Being a lawyer requires
strong morals and values, the willingness to uphold these regardless the circumstance,
while following the code, makes a good lawyer (Desacada, 2015).

CANON 10 - A LAWYER OWES CANDOR, FAIRNESS AND GOOD FAITH TO

THE COURT.
Rule 10.01 - A lawyer shall not do any falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any
in Court; nor shall he mislead, or allow the Court to be misled by any artifice.

Rule 10.02 - A lawyer shall not knowingly misquote or misrepresent the contents
of a paper, the language or the argument of opposing counsel, or the text of a
decision or authority, or knowingly cite as law a provision already rendered
inoperative by repeal or amendment, or assert as a fact that which has not been
proved.

Rule 10.03 - A lawyer shall observe the rules of procedure and shall not misuse
them to defeat the ends of justice. -

Rationale
Ethics, a branch of philosophy, is a process of reflection, or decision, which are
shaped by values, principles, and purpose, rather than for selfish means. These values
and principles give us a clear sense of what is right and what is wrong. Humans innately
have their own values and principles, with their background as a major influence.
However, the law is different. It tries to create a basic, and enforceable standard of living
and behaviour that is necessary in order for a society to succeed. As a professional, there
may be some work that adheres to the code of ethics within your profession, but it may
decline with your personal views.

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 The Code of Professional Responsibility dictate the way a lawyer should act within
himself, the society, the court, and the law. This research will tackle about the conflicts
lawyer may feel regarding their personal morals and legal ethics that they are required to
follow as lawyers. By conducting this research we will delve in a better understanding
with what happens in court and a lawyer.
The researchers decided this research for the people who may think badly of lawyers
because of work duty. By creating a pathway for the public and the life of a lawyer, there
will be more understanding between them and less negative feelings regarding their line
of work.

Objectives
The objectives of this study is to:
1. Further broaden the understanding of the public regarding the rules of
conduct attorneys follow.
2. Distinguish the lawyer’s internal conflict regarding candor and dishonesty in
the court.
3. Produce an infograph that may better educate the public masses about the
content of our study.

Significance
The research studied about the chosen canon in the Code of Professional
Responsibility, and all rules under, and will discuss how it may effect the
professionalism of the lawyer in court, and while handling clients.
It would be beneficial to lawyers in practice by using this research to help them
distinguish and differentiate personal ethics to legal ethics and help them gain
information regarding how to deal with the internal conflict these opposing views may
bring.
Also, it would be beneficial to a lawyer’s clientele in understanding certain
behaviors that their lawyer may unwittingly commit that may seem apathetic to the
counsel the lawyer is defending.
Furthermore, it would also help future researchers to educate themselves about the
Code of Professional Responsibility and it’s effect to the lawyers under it. It would help
them understand the way a lawyer acts in the court, the society, with himself, and the
law.

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II. METHODOLOGY
Form of Qualitative Research
The study was done in the form of phenomenology, where the researchers will
concentrate on the study of consciousness and experiences of lawyers in the field
regarding candor and dishonesty. The researchers will conduct interviews and
surveys, from this the researchers aim to gain the knowledge needed in their
research.

Human Experience
The researchers obtained data from Lawyers with sufficient knowledge about
the topic and has been in practice recently. The researchers conducted an interview,
and handed out questionnaires in order to complete the objectives the research has
presented.

Research Question
The researchers pursued the following questions for their research:
1. How do you deal with candor and dishonesty in the court?

Filtering
The researchers conducted interviews with Lawyers that has had at least 5 years of
practice and has been in court recently to present his counsel. The researchers chose
participants who has a lot of experience and has been in court recently where they may
have some issues regarding defending a case that may lead towards knowledge that will
help the research.. The information the participants will be able to give will help the
researchers with their research. The participants were all given the same set of questions.

Tool/Instrument
The researchers obtained data through survey questionnaires that will be given
to the chosen participants of the study. This type of tool will give the participants a
chance to express their thoughts and ideas freely without any limitations. Likewise,
there will be interviews conducted with chosen participants in order to obtain a more
in-depth understanding of his answers. This will allow the researchers to fully
understand the life of a lawyer.

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Framework

Order in the Court: Legal

Ethics vs Personal Morals

Acquiring of respondents and

participants for the research

Correspondence of respondents to
the study

Creating of questionnaires and

preparing for the interview

Gathering of data: interview

through Email

Data and observation of facts

given by selected respondents

Interpreting and analyzing the

results

Infograph that educates the

public about conflicts between
legal ethics and candor of a
lawyer

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Method of Analysis
The gathered data from the participants will be analyzed through transcription
and organization of their responses. The answers given by the respondents will be
organized according to similarities. Through the organized groups of responses, the
researchers will be able to draw responses to answer the research questions, to fulfill
the objectives, and to build a conclusion to the study.

III. FINDINGS
The results were obtained by conducting interviews through emails sent to 10
respondents, of which only seven responded. These respondents expressed their own
opinions and experiences when facing conflict between candor and dishonesty in the
court. In lieu with this, respondents were asked to keep their answers simple and with no
visible use of workplace jargon in order for the research be accessible to people of the
public with no background in these terms.

Terms and Concepts

Candor
Refers to the quality of a lawyer to be honest

Code of Professional Responsibility

Refers to the set of rules governing the ethical conduct of attorneys in the practice of
the law.

Dishonesty
In this study it is defined as failure to carry out moral correctness.
Ethics
In this research, ethics consists of the standard of moral correctness of a lawyer
to be able to satisfy one’s principle, integrity; and virtue
Lawyer
In the research, lawyers are referred as the respondents whom were specifically
limited by the researchers as litigation lawyers who has at least 5 years of experience
being one.
Legal Ethics
They are conduct that lawyers are expected to observe in their practice.

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Typology
NARRATIVE THEME CONCLUSION
* “Disobedience to
the code only harms
the client and the
litigator him/herself”
- P1
* “Importante ang
pagiging objective sa
korte, iguguide mo
dapat ang client mo
para di niya
maipahamak ang
sarili niya” - P2
* “You are a lawyer,
you are a practitioner
of the law, kahit
pamilya mo pa yan
Being objective in a case is
you should be
very fundamental to be able
prepared to accept na Importance of the Code of
to serve proper judgement in
may mali silang Professional Responsibility
the court, failure to abide by
ginawa para and legal ethics
the code sacrifices the
mailapagan sila ng
lawyers credibility in his
tamang hatol, yun
field.
ang hustisya” - P3
“kapag alanganin
yung kaso, ay hindi
ko na tinatanggap
dahil kung ang
gagawin mo lang sa
korte ay
magsinungaling ay
bababa ang
kredibilidad mo” - P4
“people should
always keep in mind
that the primary
objective of the court
is to provide proper
judgement” - P5

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“I would rather not
accept clients or
cases that would
favor dishonesty in
the court, madalas Some lawyers would rather
kailangan ng not accept cases that will
emotional stability at not favor their honesty
Emotional effect of
lakas ng loob para because of it emotional hold
handling cases that do not
maipresenta ang and emotional effect that it
favor the litigation
ganitong mga kaso. may have on them. Thus
lawyer’s honesty.
But, there are cases lessening their efficacy
where a lawyer will while defending their
find it hard to defend counsel.
his/her counsel kung
siya mismo ay hirap
sa pagdefend nito sa
kaniyang sarili.” - P6
“Madalas ay
tumatanggap pa rin
ako ng mga kasong
nakukuwestiyon ang
katapatan at
kredibilidad mo
because I am not in
the place to decline.
There are also lawyers who
Usually sa mga Finding another solution
will just plead for a lower
ganito kasi, may mga that will not question their
sanction in order to still
degrees kung saan credibility and favor their
accept the case and be able
may mga dapat kang honesty as a lawyer and a
to favor their honesty and be
gawin. Most of the person.
efficient in their work.
time I just opt to
plead for a lower
sanction para at least,
they know that I am
being honest in the
way I am defending
my client and
counsel.” - P7

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IV. DISCUSSION
Lawyers are often questioned with where there values stand as a person and as a
professional. Knowing these questions and conflicts, law is still being pursued a lot
nationwide. These conflicts cause lawyers to question their personal views on most
things. As a lawyer, they should be able to fully distinguish between work ethics and
personal ethics. The effects of these conflicts, especially the one that is tackled in this
study, is a way to bring light to the impact it has on lawyers.
The use of the phenomenological approach gives the researchers more accurate
results by conducting an in-depth analysis of a subjective experience within its context
and a view to understand the first-hand experience from the perspective of our key
participants to successfully understand their viewpoint and philosophical view regarding
the issue. The focus is not on the objective measures but on the uniqueness of one’s
experience and its corresponding meaning or meanings.(Hernandez, 2017) A total of
seven (7) litigation lawyers from around Metro Manila were interviewed by the
researchers.
The data obtained from this research discuss the philosophical views of lawyers
regarding the conflict between candor and dishonesty in the court. The researchers were
able to produce three (3) major themes. These three themes are, Importance of the Code
of Professional Responsibility and legal ethics, Emotional effect of handling cases that
do not favor the litigation lawyer’s honesty, and Finding another solution that will not
question their credibility and favor their honesty as a lawyer and a person.
The first theme was about the importance of the Code and legal ethics in the
credibility of lawyers as a professional. It is the first and foremost being a lawyers should
become. The researchers interpreted the answers of the respondents into being objective
while undergoing a case should be the backbone of a lawyer to be able to make proper
decisions, judgements, and choices. This is fundamental because it ensures the credibility
of the lawyer and disregards any biases that may occur. Failing to abide by the code
sacrifices the credibility and professionalism of a lawyer.
The second theme was about the emotional effect of handling cases that do not favor
a lawyer’s honesty. As humans, lawyers can’t help but feel emotions while working. As
opposed to the first theme, this theme focuses on the subjectiveness of a lawyer without
disobeying the code. Some lawyers opt to decline cases that may cause internal conflict
between their work and personal morals. While this may shed some bad light onto the
lawyers, it will vastly improve their efficacy because it did not effect the lawyers
emotionally.
The last theme is about the other way a lawyer can still work on the case and not
violate the code. A lawyer can choose to accept a case and rather plead for a less
sanction on his counsel. By pleading for a lower sanction, the lawyer still honors the
code and his honesty. This is somewhat an equilibrium between the conflict this study is
about. But, not all lawyers opt for this option because it is harder on the lawyer and the
family. It will be hard for the counsel’s family because they might think that the lawyer

9
is not doing his best in defending the litigant. Because of the lack of representation about
the code, the public also lack understanding that is needed by a lawyer. It will also be
hard for the lawyer if his litigant’s family is not able to understand this because he has no
choice but to hear bad reviews about his work and personal ethics while the public
remains ignorant about this.
The respondents explained a variety of ways a lawyer can cope with the conflict
candor and dishonesty brings. This research interpreted the results by asking fully
engaging with the lawyers in asking them to answer without a filter and explaining
jargon that they may have used.

V. CONCLUSION
The study shows the experiences of lawyers when they encounter transgression to
the code of professional responsibility and their own personal moral values. A qualitative
research was conducted by the researchers to answer the project’s grand tour question,
How do you deal with candor and dishonesty in the court? The proponents of the study
believe that the findings of their study are in fact reliable due to the credentials of the
hand-picked proponents requiring them to have at least five (5) years of experience in
litigation law. A phenomenological approach was used which produced three (3) themes
that answer to the grand tour question. These three themes are, Importance of the Code
of Professional Responsibility and legal ethics, Emotional effect of handling cases
that do not favor the litigation lawyer’s honesty, and Finding another solution that
will not question their credibility and favor their honesty as a lawyer and a person.
The researchers believe that these three (3) major themes are a help for other people
to understand the philosophical views of different litigation lawyers. The researchers also
believe that the findings of their study are reliable and certain because the data was
gathered directly from seven lawyers through emails. Better knowledge and
understanding about the experiences of lawyers when encountering transgression
professionally and personally which will be important for future attorneys and litigants.

References
https://lawphilreviewer.wordpress.com/tag/legal-ethics-chapter-i-lawyer-and-society/
sc.judiciary.gov.ph/baradmission/2017/Legal%20Ethics.pdf
http://www.chanrobles.com/codeofprofessionalresponsibility.html#.XEXtCPZuK00
www.ethics.org.au/on-ethics/blog/september-2016/ethics-morality-law-whats-the-difference

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Appendix A
Letter

11
12
13
 Appendix B
Email

(only one respondent allowed a screenshot of his answer to be taken)

14
 Appendix C
Journal Entries

15
16
17
18
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