MANILA, Philippines - Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona recently urged lawyers in the country to continue studying and improving themselves after passing the Bar.
“As the year 2011 ushers in a new decade of sweeping global and national challenges, transformations and paradigm shifts, the call of the moment is for each and every Filipino lawyer to step up to the needs of the times, securely covered by the breastplate of competence and integrity,” Corona said in his speech on the second day of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ (IBP) 13th National Convention of Lawyers held at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center in Zambales.
To fulfill such task, the Chief Justice stressed that every lawyer must continue studying and improving himself, specially after passing the Bar.
“He must keep abreast with the new laws, decisions of the Supreme Court as well as the rules and regulations promulgated by the government and concerned agencies,” he said.
Aside from committing themselves to learning, Corona also said that lawyers, as officers of the court, ought not only to breathe life into the Constitution and the law but also champion individual rights, specially of the poor and the weak.
“The prestige and stature of a member of the legal profession must be matched by a solemn commitment to be a guardian of truth and rule of law. At the heart of every lawyer’s mandate is the trust of the people because lawyering is, more than anything else, a public service, especially when we talk of access to justice by the disadvantaged and marginalized. Any act of justice we do therefore exalts and magnifies our profession in the eyes of our people and in their trust and confidence in our democratic way of life,” he said.
Corona said that a member of the legal profession is bound by his oath not only to protect the interests of his client but also to make the judicial system work.
By educating its own ranks and recognizing those who are honest and competent, the Chief Justice gave thanks to the IBP for “walking the talk to prevent corruption from establishing deeper roots in the legal community.”
Corona called on to his fellow members of the Bar to go back in time and remind themselves how they felt when they first recited the Lawyer’s Oath.
“Remember how it felt to be bright-eyed, eager and youthful members of the Bar, resplendent as knights in shining armor and determined to conquer all the evil in the world? So it was then, so can it be now. All we need to do is to believe in ourselves and our God-given ability to live up to the greatness and nobility of our chosen profession,” he concluded.
Aside from delivering the convention address, Corona also administered the oath to the 2011 to 2013 IBP chapter officers and directors.