Yes of course. Working before applying PGWP is a very common mistake. As long as OP acknowledge, apologies and show they are trying their best to fix it, it shouldn’t be an issue. Just a simple search on this forum, you’ll see many many people has similar problem and still got the permit.
Lying is a completely different thing. Even if OP get the permit, They would be risking the 5 year ban from misrepresentation since they are intentionally withholding information that bring negative influence to their future PR application. This is far more serious than an international students accidentally work more than they should.