Justice Renato C. Corona

Associate Justice Renato C. Corona, one of the youngest magistrates ever to be appointed to the Supreme Court of the Philippines, was appointed to the highest tribunal on April 9, 2002.  His age notwithstanding, he brings with him depth and perspective gained from many years of experience as a law professor, private law practitioner and member of the Cabinet under two Presidents, Fidel V. Ramos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Justice Corona had a sterling record as a student. He graduated with gold medal honors from the Ateneo de Manila grade school in 1962 and high school in 1966.  He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree, also with honors, from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1970.  It was here where he honed his skills in writing and argumentation, the indispensable tools for writing decisions with clarity, persuasion and sagacity. He was the editor-in-chief of The Guidon, the university student newspaper of the Ateneo and was secretary-general of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines from 1968 to 1970. He was also the captain of the overall champion team of the 1970 Annual Debating Tournament of the Ateneo School of Arts and Sciences.

Justice Corona finished his Bachelor of Laws at the Ateneo Law School in 1974.  Having married right after college, he held a full-time job in the Office of the Executive Secretary in Malacañang Palace while attending night classes in law school. Despite the heavy demands of work and family, however, he was a consistent honor student, graduating no. 5 in his class.  That same year, he placed 25th highest out of 1,965 candidates in the bar examinations.

After law school, he pursued the Master of Business Administration course at the Ateneo Professional Schools.  In 1981, he was accepted to the Master of Laws program in Harvard Law School where he focused on foreign investment policies and the regulation of corporate and financial institutions.  He was conferred the LL.M. degree by Harvard Law School in 1982.

As a young lawyer, Justice Corona served as special counsel at the Development Bank  of  the  Philippines.  He later became senior vice-president and general counsel of the Commercial Bank of Manila and later, a senior officer of the Tax and Corporate Counseling Group of the Tax Division of Sycip Gorres and Velayo (SGV & Co.).

In 1992, he was invited to join the administration of then President Fidel V. Ramos as Assistant Executive Secretary for legal affairs, concurrently head of the Malacañang Legal Office.  In 1994, he was promoted to Deputy Executive Secretary and later Presidential Legal Counsel and member of the Cabinet.

While serving in Malacañang during the Ramos Administration, he earned the rare distinction of having solved the perennial backlog of cases in the Legal Office. As head of that critical agency, he not only served as one of the President’s legal advisers but also wrote decisions and recommendations which showed an insightful and exceptional understanding of legal issues, as well as a mastery of the diverse options for resolving them.

As legal counsel to President Ramos, then Secretary Corona held, in concurrent capacity, the positions of Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission; member of the Presidential Committee on Bail, Release and Pardon, the Cabinet Consultative Committee on the Government of the Republic of the Philippines- National Democratic Front (GRP-NDF) Peace Talks, and the Cabinet Committee on National Security.  He likewise chaired the Appeals Committee of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) as well as various other presidential committees.

Committed to the principles of integrity, decency and simplicity, Justice Corona and his accomplishments in the public service have merited public recognition.  He was honored with a special award by the Harvard University/Kennedy School of Government Alumni Association.  In 1998, then President Ramos awarded him the distinctive Philippine Legion of Honor medal with the rank of officer. 

After the term of President Ramos ended in 1998, he was invited by then Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to become her chief of staff and spokesman.  It was in that capacity that he became deeply involved in the burning political issues of the day and, when Arroyo assumed the presidency on January 20, 2001, he played a crucial role in the new administration as Presidential Chief of Staff, Presidential Spokesman and later as Acting Executive Secretary.

A legal scholar at heart, he served as a member of the faculty of the Ateneo Law School for 17 years, teaching Commercial Law, Taxation and Corporation Law, the same subjects that became the focus of his many articles and columns in several newspapers.  He also wrote for the Ateneo Law Journal. Justice Corona is currently finishing his doctoral studies in civil law at the University of Santo Tomas where he was given the award of Most Outstanding Graduate School Student.

His competence in the field of law is recognized in the Philippines and abroad.  In 2006, he was conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa by the University of Batangas for his “legal scholarship, professional integrity and judicial independence.”  In 2007, he was again honored with another Doctor of Laws honoris causa degree, this time by the University of Cebu.  He has lectured in and presented scholarly papers before several international law conferences and seminars, the latest of which were the 9th General Assembly of the Asean Law Association in Bangkok, Thailand and the interregional meeting of a multidisciplinary group of experts on the role of sanctions in ensuring better respect for international humanitarian law, sponsored by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland.

In 2004, the Province of Batangas conferred on him the Dangal ng Batangan award, the highest and coveted honor reserved by the province for its distinguished sons and daughters.  And in 2005, he was chosen as one of the Outstanding Manilans by the capital City of Manila.

At present, the only two organizations he has limited his active participation in are the Harvard Law School Association of the Philippines (where he sits as a member of the Board of Trustees) and the Ateneo Law Alumni Association (of which he was once Chairman).

His judicial philosophy is centered on his commitment to uphold the Constitution and the law in order that the rights of every man, woman and child are protected and enhanced.  When the voice of the weak and the oppressed is inaudible and unheeded, he believes that every effort must be exerted to provide them a forum where they can be heard and their rights recognized.

His personal advocacies include the formation of strong moral and ethical values in the legal profession, specially among the young lawyers.  He is deeply committed to the cause of protecting and helping oppressed and abused street-children, and the rehabilitation of former inmates as useful members of society.

Born on October 15, 1948 in Tanauan City, Batangas, the self-effacing and hard-working Justice Corona is married to the former Cristina Roco. They are blessed with three grown-up children, all professionals and graduates of the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines. 

He is the proud and doting “Grandpa” to the jewels of his life — Franco, Santino, Anika and Katrina.