Culinary

CODE OF ETHICS

FOR PHILIPPINE PSYCHOLOGISTS

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES

SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS COMMITTEE

(2008-2009)

PAP Code of Ethics, page 2

PREFACE

The Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP) adopted a Code of Ethics for Clinical

Psychologists in the 1980s, and this Code has remained unchanged since then. In 2007, the

Board of Directors of the PAP resolved to constitute a committee to revise the code of ethics,

with the goal of updating the code and making it more inclusive and applicable to all

psychologists.

In 2008, the PAP Board of Directors appointed immediate past president, Dr. Allan B. I.

Bernardo as Chair of the Scientific and Professional Ethics Committee, in compliance with the

PAP Charter. The PAP Board also appointed Dr. Ma. Lourdes A. Carandang, Dr. Natividad A.

Dayan, Dr. Rosalito De Guzman, and Ms. Anna Guerrero as members of this committee.

Given a clear mandate from the PAP Board, the committee set out to accomplish its task with the

assistance of three graduate assistants: Mary Libertine Amor, Mary Grace M. Serranilla, and

Sheri Anne C. Zerna. The committee chair and the assistants undertook the preparatory work

which involved studying the old Code, and several documents related to ethical standards for

psychologists (e.g., the Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists, the ethics

codes of the American Psychological Association, the British Psychological Society, the

Canadian Psychological Society, among others).

The complete committee conducted a day-long workshop on February 27, 2009 to finalize the

proposed Code of Ethics for Philippine Psychologists. The committee was strongly influenced by

existing codes from other countries (which is reflected in the scope and structure of the Code),

but worked hard to ensure that the code was contextualized with the realities and constraints

within the professional environments that Philippine psychologists do their work.

The first draft...