CANON 6: Foremost duty of a lawyer.

Valencia v. Cabanting
A lawyer owes entire devotion to the interest of
his client but not at the expense of truth.
The first duty of a lawyer is not to his client
but to the administration of justice. To that
end, his client's success is wholly subordinate.
His conduct ought to and must always be
scrupulously observant of law and ethics.

 While a lawyer must advocate his client's cause

in utmost earnestness and with the maximum
skill he can marshal, he is not at liberty to resort
to illegal means for his client's interest. It is the
duty of an attorney to employ, for the purpose of
maintaining the causes confided to him, such
means as are consistent with truth and honor.
(Pangan vs. Ramos, 93 SCRA 87).
Membership in the Bar is a privilege burdened
with conditions. By far, the most important of
them is mindfulness that a lawyer is an officer of
the court.

CANON 6 These canons shall apply to lawyers in government

service in the discharge of their official tasks.
Rationale: A lawyer does not shed his professional obligations
upon assuming public office.
Public Officials include elective and appointive officials and employees,
permanent or temporary, whether in the career or non-career service,
including military and police personnel, whether or not they receive
compensation, regardless of amount.(Sec. 3 (b), RA 6713).
The law requires the observance of the following norms of conduct by
every public official in the discharge and execution of their official duties:

commitment to public interest

Professionalism
justness and sincerity
political neutrality
responsiveness to the public
nationalism and patriotism
commitment to democracy
simple living (Sec. 4, RA 6713)

 In fact, his professional obligations should make him more sensitive to his
official obligations because a lawyers disreputable conduct is more likely
to be magnified in the public eye.
As government counsel, they have the added duty to abide by the policy
of the State to promote a high standard of ethics in public service.
As part of the government bureaucracy, it is incumbent upon lawyers to
perform and discharge their duties with the highest degree of
professionalism, intelligence, and skill, and to extend prompt, courteous,
and adequate service to the public.
Fundamental principle in public law: Public office is a public trust.
A public servant owes utmost fidelity to the public service.

Difference
Rule 6.01 The primary duty of a lawyer
engaged in public prosecution is not to
convict but to see that justice is done.
The suppression of facts or the
concealment of witnesses capable of
establishing the innocence of the
accused is highly reprehensible and is
cause of disciplinary action.

Rule 6.02 A lawyer in the government

service shall not use his public position
to promote or advance his private
interest, nor allow the latter to interfere
with his public duties.

Restrictions against using public office

to promote Private interest.

Restrictions against former official from

accepting certain employment.

 6.01
A public prosecutor is a quasi-judicial officer who represents, not an
ordinary party to a controversy, but sovereignty. This sovereignty has its
obligation to govern impartially. Therefore, the interest in a criminal
prosecution is not that it shall win a case but that justice shall be done.
A public prosecutor should not hesitate to recommend to the court the
acquittal of the accused if the evidence in his possession shows that the
accused is innocent. If he finds no legal basis to sustain a conviction, he
should not hesitate to recommend that the accused be acquitted.
For his finest hour is not when he wins a case with the conviction of the
accused. His finest hour is still when, overcoming the advocates natural
obsession for victory, he stands up before the court and pleads not for the
conviction of the accused but for his acquittal. For indeed, his noble task is to
prosecute only the guilty and to protect the innocent.

 6.02
If the law allows a public official to practice law concurrently, he must
not use his public position to feather his law practice.
Neither should he accept any private legal business in which his duty
to his client will or may conflict with his official duties, and if some
unforeseen conflict with his official duties arises he should terminate his
professional relationship.
A public official should see to it that his private activity does not
interfere with the discharge of his official functions. He should avoid all
impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.
Neither should he inferentially create a public image that he is utilizing
his public position to advance his professional success or personal
interest at the expense of the public.