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“I accept the
appointment with a clear awareness of the
defining role of the judiciary as our people
confront turning points after turning points in
life. The Judiciary may not have the power of
the sword, may not have the power of the purse,
but it has the power to interpret the
Constitution, and the unerring lessons of
history tell us that rightly wielded, that power
can make a difference for good.
“With this
acceptance, I pledge to do what is expected of
me: to espouse no ideology but
constitutionalism; to uphold no theology but the
rule of law. The Judiciary has but one
constituency and it is a constituency of one ---
the blindfolded lady with a sword unsheathed.
She represents justice, fair justice to all,
unfairness to none. I hope to be an instrument
of this kind of justice,” Chief Justice Puno
said in his first statement as chief magistrate.
Prior to his appointment to the judiciary’s top
post, Chief Justice Puno chaired the Court’s
Second Division and the Senate Electoral
Tribunal. He was a consultant of the Judicial
and Bar Council which he now heads as
Ex-officio Chair.
Chief Justice Puno also chaired the Court
Systems Journal and the Supreme Court Committee
which digests the Court’s decisions for
distribution to members of the judiciary. He
likewise headed the High Court’s Committee on
Revision of the Rules of Court that drafted the
Rule on Violence against Women and their
Children, Rule on Legal Separation,
Rule on Declaration of Nullity of Void
Marriages and Annulment of Voidable Marriages,
Rule on Adoption, and Rules of
Criminal Procedure, among others,
Among his ponencias are the March 2,
2001 En Banc decision upholding the
legitimacy of the Arroyo presidency (Estrada
v. Arroyo), the decision declaring
unconstitutional RA 8180 or the Oil Deregulation
Law (Tatad v. DOE), and the first SC
ruling ordering the Manila Electric Company to
refund its customers (Republic v. Meralco).
Chief Justice Puno
was appointed to the High Tribunal on June 28,
1993 by then President Fidel V. Ramos.
Before entering the public sector, he engaged in
private practice working as Assistant Attorney
at the Gerardo Roxas and Abraham F. Sarmiento
Law Office as Assistant Attorney in 1962. He
later joined his brother, the late Judge Isaac
S. Puno, Jr., at the Puno Law Office from 1969
to 1971.
In 1971, he was
appointed Solicitor in the Office of the
Solicitor General. At the age of 32, he was
designated as Acting City Judge of Quezon City
Branch II while concurrently serving as
Solicitor in 1972. He was promoted to Assistant
Solicitor General two years after.
In 1980, at age
40, Justice Puno was appointed Associate Justice
of the Court of Appeals. He holds the
distinction of being the youngest appointee to
the CA.
He was reappointed Appellate Justice of the
Intermediate Appellate Court (First Special
Division) on January 1983. The following year,
he was appointed Deputy Minister of Justice. He
also served as Acting Chairman of the Board of
Pardons and Parole.
Chief Justice Puno resumed his judicial career
when he was again appointed CA Justice on August
1, 1986.
Chief Justice Puno obtained his Bachelor of
Science in Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Laws
degrees from the University of the Philippines
in 1962, and subsequently pursued his
post-graduate studies in the United States on
full scholarship. He obtained his Master of
Comparative Laws degree from the Southern
Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, Texas, with
high distinction and as valedictorian of his
class; his Master of Laws degree at the
University of California, Berkeley, California;
and finished all the academic requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science at the
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana,
Illinois.
In 2005, he became
the first Filipino recipient of the
Distinguished Global Alumnus Award given by
the Dedman School of Law, SMU. He has been
conferred honorary doctorate degrees by the
Philippine Wesleyan University, Angeles
University Foundation, Bulacan State University,
and by the Hannam University, South Korea.
Chief Justice Puno served as editor of the
Philippine Collegian in 1961. While in law
school, he served as Chairman of the Law
Register and Recent Documents Editor of the
Philippine Law Journal at the UP
College of Law. In recognition of his campus
leadership, he was given the Outstanding Award
for Excellence and Leadership by the Alpha Phi
Beta Fraternity for the years 1960, 1961, and
1962.
Among other honors, he was chosen as one of the
Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines
(1977), Araw ng Maynila Awardee as
Outstanding Jurist (1987), Outstanding
Alumnus of the UP College of Law (1996),
Ulirang Ama Awardee (2005), Grand Cross
of Rizal from the Order of the Knights of Rizal
(1998), Grand Lodge Gold Medal from the Grand
Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the
Philippines (1998), and Centennial Awardee in
the field of law given by the United Methodist
Church on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.
Chief Justice Puno served as Bar Examiner in
Criminal Law (1970), Mercantile Law (1989) and
Taxation (1993). He was also a Lecturer of the
UP Law Center, Institute of Judicial
Administration and a Professor of Law at the Far
Eastern University (1969- 1973).
Apart from his judicial responsibilities, Chief
Justice Puno is actively involved in civic and
church activities. He is a lay preacher of the
United Methodist Church and incumbent Chairman
of the Administrative Council of the Puno
Memorial United Methodist Church. He is past
Chairman of the Administrative Board of the Knox
United Methodist Church, the biggest and oldest
Methodist Church in the Philippines.
A native of
Manila, Justice Puno is married to the late
SC Clerk of Court Luzviminda D. Puno with
whom he has three children, Reynato, Jr.,
Emmanuel, and Ruth.
Article written
by Jay Rempillo, taken from
www.supremecourt.gov.ph.
Link to article:
http://www.supremecourt.gov.ph/news/courtnews%20flash/2006/12/12070601.php
Webmaster's Note:
Chief Justice Puno worshipped at Knox UMC
from his early childhood until he transferred
his membership to Puno Memorial UMC in the
mid-eighties. |
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