The head of the Public Attorney’s Office, Persida Rueda-Acosta, issued Office Order No. 096 requiring PAO lawyers to abide by the most recent version of the CPRA.

This office directive was issued following her recent Supreme Court apology for her online tirades against specific provisions of the Code. Additionally, it guaranteed that public defenders would follow Canon III’s Section 22 in relation to Sections 13 and 18.

“We hereby give the discretion and disposition as a lawyer to the individual resident public attorneys assigned in specific courts to comply with the said rule in relation to Sections 131 and 18,2 Canon III thereof,” the order read.

Acosta apologized to the high tribunal before the order was issued. In a video posted on her Facebook page, the PAO chief humbly apologized to the Supreme Court Justices for her recent rant. She also clarified that they brought up the issues before the High Court out of a desire to help their clients and indigent people.

The Supreme Court had previously warned the PAO chief for her comments against the revised lawyers code and issued a show cause order, noting Acosta’s “unabated public tirades” against Canon III, Section 22 of the CPRA, which she called “unconstitutional” and “an undue interference and intrusion by the [SC] into PAO’s operations.”

The CPRA, also referred to as the “lawyer’s code of conduct,” was introduced in April following a seven-month SC study for a “modern, relevant, and responsive guide for a lawyer’s conduct” in consultation with more than 2,000 lawyers nationwide.