database INSERT and UPDATE converts symbols to html code

This is the code I use for the form:

PHP Code:

<div class="form-control">
     <?php echo form_label('Last Name: ', 'last_name'); ?><br />
     <?php
          $attributes = array(
               'id' => 'last_name',
               'name' => 'last_name',
               'value' => set_value('last_name', $client->last_name)
          );
         echo form_input($attributes);
     ?>
</div> <!-- end of .form-control --> 


In my controller, this is the only validation rule I am using for this input:

PHP Code:

$this->form_validation->set_rules('last_name', '<span>"Last Name"</span>', 'required'); 


This is where I get $client:

PHP Code:

'client' =>$this->registration_model->get_single_client($_SESSION['client_id']),   


And this is in my model:

PHP Code:

/*
* get a specific client
*/
 public function get_single_client($client_id) {
 
 $this->db->where('id', $client_id);
 $query = $this->db->get('clients');
 
 return $query->row();
 
 } 


Where in any of this code am I doing HTML escaping?