(b) After Separation from Public Office (RA 6713, Sec. 7(b), last par.)

After Separation from Public Office

Concept

Separation from public office does not immediately end every restriction on a former official’s outside activities. Section 7(b) of Republic Act No. 6713 carries specified prohibitions forward for one year after resignation, retirement, or separation. For a professional, including a lawyer, the rule requires particular attention to matters before the office where the person used to serve. (Sec. 7, Rep. Act No. 6713)¹

Governing provisions

Section 7(b) governs outside employment and related activities of public officials and employees during incumbency and states which restrictions continue after they leave office. Article 29 of the CPRA separately governs lawyers formerly in government service, including certain former judicial officers and prosecutors. (Sec. 7, Rep. Act No. 6713)¹ (Art. 29, CPRA)²

Requisites / Rules

• For one year after resignation, retirement, or separation, the prohibitions on employment or roles in a private enterprise regulated, supervised, or licensed by the former office, and on recommending a person to a private enterprise with a regular or pending official transaction with that office, continue to apply. (Sec. 7, Rep. Act No. 6713)¹
• A former professional is not subject to a blanket one-year continuation of the prohibition on private practice. The professional cannot, however, practice in connection with any matter before the office where the professional used to serve during that year. (Sec. 7, Rep. Act No. 6713)¹
• A lawyer who has left government service must not engage in private practice pertaining to any matter before the office where the lawyer used to be connected within one year from separation from that office. (Art. 29, CPRA)²
• Former justices, judges, clerks of court, and city, provincial, and regional prosecutors must not appear before any court within the territorial jurisdiction where they previously served during the same period. (Art. 29, CPRA)²

Distinctions

The post-separation rule distinguishes private practice generally from practice connected with a matter before the former office. It also distinguishes the office-based restriction applicable to former government lawyers from the territorial restriction on court appearances applicable to the specified former judicial officers and prosecutors. (Sec. 7, Rep. Act No. 6713)¹ (Art. 29, CPRA)²

Key doctrines

Article 29 adds a restriction concerning a lawyer’s former official work: after leaving government service, the lawyer must not accept an engagement that could improperly influence the outcome of proceedings the lawyer handled, intervened in, or previously exercised authority over while in service. This rule addresses the proposed engagement’s connection to those proceedings, apart from the one-year office-based restriction. (Art. 29, CPRA)²

Exceptions

Section 7(b) expressly excepts its private-practice prohibition from blanket continuation after separation, while retaining the one-year bar for practice connected with a matter before the former office. The provision also recognizes an express allowance by law for the specified private-enterprise roles during incumbency; it does not state a comparable post-separation exception to the former-office practice restriction. (Sec. 7, Rep. Act No. 6713)¹

Bar tip

Identify the former office, the proposed role or matter, and whether one year has passed. For a lawyer, also check the CPRA restrictions on court appearances and engagements tied to proceedings handled during government service. (Sec. 7, Rep. Act No. 6713)¹ (Art. 29, CPRA)²