MANILA, Philippines?Despite the outcry sparked by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s action, Chief Justice Reynato Puno recognized her appointment of Associate Justice Renato Corona as his successor.

Speaking at his formal retirement ceremony held Friday afternoon in the Supreme Court Session Hall, Puno included Corona among those he acknowledged as he stepped down from the bench after 17 years.

?Congratulations to the 23rd Chief Justice of the Philippines, Chief Justice Renato C. Corona. I am sorry that my wrong birthday is causing you some problems,? Puno said, eliciting applause from the 13 magistrates seated behind him and the audience that included former justices, government officials, dignitaries and court employees.

Corona smiled. Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the most senior member of the bench whose nomination to the post was withdrawn after he said he would not accept an appointment from Ms Arroyo, briefly clapped but his face was expressionless throughout the three-hour ceremony.

With a showdown imminent between Ms Arroyo and presidential front-runner Benigno Aquino III over the appointment of a new Chief Justice, Puno tried to lighten the mood by cracking a joke.

?If it is of any help, I am willing to file a petition for habeas data to change the date of my birthday. But I know that is the wrong remedy,? he said.

Puno will retire on Monday when he turns 70, the mandatory retirement age in the judiciary.

Intellectual aristocrat

Puno had earlier chosen Corona to hand him the Jose Abad Santos Award for retiring justices and the statuette of the Lady Justice.

In his message, Corona said Puno was an ?intellectual aristocrat? who issued polished and elegantly written decisions.

?Chief Justice Puno will no doubt be recognized as one of the greatest Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines,? he said.

As Puno?s successor, Corona, 62, will head the judiciary for the next eight years, outliving the next President?s six-year term.

Ms Arroyo?s appointment of him is seen as a move to shield herself from prosecution for anomalous transactions during her administration.

The Constitution under Section 15 Article VII prohibits an outgoing President from making appointments, except temporary ones, two months immediately before the May 10 elections and until the end of his/her term on June 30.

But in a 9-1 vote on March 17, the Supreme Court reversed a 1998 unanimous court doctrine that banned further appointments in the judiciary, and authorized Ms Arroyo to appoint Puno?s successor.

It said positions in the Supreme Court were exempt from the constitutional ban against ?midnight appointments.?

On Wednesday, the Palace announced that Ms Arroyo would appoint Corona, her former chief of staff, as Chief Justice. In reaction, Aquino reiterated that he would not recognize her midnight appointments.

First among equals

All the justices had roles in the ceremony except for Associate Justice Arturo Brion.

In her opening remarks, Associate Justice Teresita De Castro praised Puno for treating his colleagues fairly.

?He?s indeed primus inter pares (the first among equals). He commands respect because he knows how to give it ... He has given a humanitarian face to the judiciary,? she said.

Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo lauded Puno?s values: ?I know of no one else who has fought harder and fought more courageously to promote a more human and values-driven system of law.

?There will be no one like you in the court for a long time, and we?ll sorely miss you.?

A plaque signed by all his colleagues proclaimed Puno as ?a man of justice and a man of the law.?

Among those who attended the ceremony were former President Fidel Ramos who appointed Puno to the Supreme Court in 1993, and former Chief Justices Andres Narvasa, Hilario Davide Jr. and Artemio Panganiban.

The others present were former Supreme Court justices, former Senate President Jovito Salonga, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, Commission on Human Rights Chair Leila De Lima, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, heads of evangelical churches and dignitaries.

Also present were Inquirer board chair Marixi Prieto and publisher Isagani Yambot.

Special attention was given to Puno?s family, particularly his children and grandchildren who joined him in the unveiling of his portrait.

Activist judiciary

In his speech, Puno said he pursued the reform program that former Chief Justice Davide had started.

?I decided to focus on the sorry state of the human rights of our people during my term as Chief Justice. I thought our people deserved more than a laid-back judiciary. We may be divided by different ideologies, but we cannot disagree on the activist nature of the judiciary established in our 1987 Constitution,? he said, adding:

?What we have, therefore, is a court that is not impotent but a court that has the power to make a real difference in the lives of our people.?

As Chief Justice, Puno led the Supreme Court in pioneering key human rights legislation?the writs of amparo and of habeas data for victims of extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

He relaunched the Enhanced Justice on Wheels Program?mobile courts that visit jails to expedite the trial of criminal cases for detained prisoners who are too poor to post bail and whose cases have been languishing due to a lack of judges.

He instituted small claims rules to resolve petty civil cases involving transactions not more than P100,000.

And he introduced the writs of kalikasan and of continuing mandamus for environmental protection, and converted all trial courts into environmental courts.

People?s Court

?I keep on stressing that our high court has exerted its utmost efforts to protect the rights of our people, especially the poor people. So if you want to give a name to the high court during my watch, I wish you would not call it the ?Puno Court? but the ?People?s Court,?? said Puno, who served for 38 years in the judiciary, including 17 years in the high court.

Among the many landmark decisions issued during Puno?s watch as Chief Justice in the last three and a half years, he mentioned two ?which I believe saved the nation from being torn apart.?

The first was the decision annulling the controversial Memorandum of Agreement-Ancestral Domain Agreement between the government and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The second was the decision ordering the Metro Manila Development Authority and various government agencies to clean up Laguna de Bay.

Puno also took pride in the fact that ?after more than 100 years of its existence, the Supreme Court was able to promulgate its internal rules,? which he said would lend greater transparency to the processes of the Supreme Court.

Although Puno will retire on May 17, the Supreme Court held his retirement ceremony Friday because he is to leave for the United States today to receive a prestigious award from his alma mater, University of California-Berkeley.

Credentials

Prior to his promotion to the Supreme Court, Puno served as acting city judge of Quezon City in 1972, assistant solicitor general in 1974, deputy minister of justice in 1984, and associate justice of the Intermediate Appellate Court in 1980, and the Court of Appeals in 1986.

He was appointed to the appellate court at the age of 40?the youngest appointee after the law fixed the minimum age of appointment at 40.

Puno obtained his bachelor of science in jurisprudence and bachelor of laws degrees from the University of the Philippines in 1962.

He served as editor in chief of the Philippine Collegian, the UP school paper, and chair of the editorial board of the Law Register, the official student newspaper of the UP College of Law.

Puno pursued his postgraduate studies in the United States, all on full scholarship. He obtained his master of comparative laws degree from the Southern Methodist University in Texas, with high distinction as class valedictorian, in 1967, and his master of laws degree at UC-Berkeley in 1968.

He completed all the academic requirements for the degree of doctor of juridical science at the University of Illinois, Champaign in 1969.