Hon. Renato C.

Corona Chief Justice I enter upon the duties of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines only as a pure and simple response of a citizen to a call of public duty to serve God and country. This, and nothing else and nothing more. In the unusual exigencies of present-day circumstances, I am all too keenly aware that so much more than the usual is expected of me. I aim to improve the judiciary even further in every aspect possible and strengthen the great institution of the Supreme Court. By and with Gods awesome grace, I shall prove myself worthy of the responsibilities entrusted, to me by our people of whatever color of persuasion and nature of belief. Undaunted by man or circumstance, and unswayed by praise or criticism, in me right will find a sanctuary and wrong will find no refuge. Fiat justitia coelum ruat. Let justice be done though theheavens fall, even if this should require my turning back the tide. Having put on the breastplate of justice and taken hold of the sword of the law, I enter a new phase in the autumn of my life upon my assumption of public duties as 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, absolutely unfettered and uncompromised by encumbrances of whatever nature which would in one way or another hinder or impede me in the performance of these public duties. My heart is in the right place and its loyalty is to the Constitution alone. I stake everything on this unconditional and unequivocal pledge of honor. Only by the standard of this forthright sworn fidelity am I willing to be judged in the times to come. All this I swear, not by the heavens where God dwells nor by the earth which is his footstool, but solely upon the revered name and memory of my parents whom I so love and honor, and who ingrained in me from my earliest years a rock-hard sense of duty to God and country. I ask the Almighty to come to my aid, for it is He, and He alone, who has given me a seat among the leaders of our people.