Text of the provision

Art. 209. Betrayal of trust by an attorney or solicitor.— Revelation of Secrets. - In addition to the proper administrative action, the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum period, or a fine ranging from Forty thousand pesos (₱40,000) to Two hundred thousand pesos (₱200,000), or both, shall be imposed upon any attorney-at-law or any person duly authorized to represent and/or assist a party to a case who, by any malicious breach of professional duty or of inexcusable negligence or ignorance, shall prejudice his client, or reveal any of the secrets of the latter learned by him in his professional capacity. The same penalty shall be imposed upon an attorney-at-law or any person duly authorized to represent and/or assist a party to a case who, having undertaken the defense of a client or having received confidential information from said client in a case, shall undertake the defense of the opposing party in the same case, without the consent of his first client.

Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, Act No. 3815, as amended. Reproduced in full from the official enactment and verified against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings.

What this article means

A lawyer or authorised representative who, by malicious breach of professional duty, inexcusable negligence or ignorance, prejudices his client or reveals the client’s secrets faces, on top of administrative action, prisión correccional in its minimum period, or a fine from Forty thousand pesos (₱40,000) to Two hundred thousand pesos (₱200,000), or both. The same penalty falls on one who, after taking a client’s defence or confidential information, switches to the opposing party in the same case without the first client’s consent.

Questions about this provision

Related provisions

Penalty amounts. The text above is the article as amended by Republic Act No. 10951 (2017), which revised the property values and fines throughout this Code. Older reproductions of the Revised Penal Code still print the 1930 amounts — for theft and estafa they show 12,000 and 22,000 pesos where the current figures run to millions. Check which version any source you rely on is giving you.

Cases interpreting this article

Note. The text of the provision above is reproduced in full from the official enactment (Act No. 3815), verified against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings. The Revised Penal Code has been amended many times; this page reproduces the text as those sources carry it. The annotation and commentary around it are the work of Vivas & Nobles Law Office and are general legal information, not legal advice. How a provision applies to a particular situation depends on facts that only a lawyer reviewing your case can assess.