As the Philippines seeks to tackle corruption, the Chief Justice calls for the legal profession to step up to the mark.
The first woman Chief Justice of the Philippines has made an impassioned appeal for a “counter-cultural revolution” to change the public’s poor perception of lawyers.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said that the public fed on “sad, angry jokes about corrupt, overbearing lawyers”, reports GMA News. She said that lawyers  have been characterized as “selfish, untruthful and arrogant, as carrying ourselves with a false sense of entitlement.”

Moves to reform

Addressing a ceremony for bar exam passers, she said that the Supreme Court had taken measures to reform the judiciary and remove corruption, pointing out that judges had been recently dismissed for gross negligence.
She also said that disciplinary cases against lawyers were being speeded up in further efforts to ensure justice was seen to be done. The Chief Justice told those present that new entrants had to vow not to be corrupt or to allow themselves to be corrupted by others.

Ms Sereno became the country’s 24th Chief Justice following the removal from office of Chief justice Renato Corona last year in a landmark conviction when it was disclosed in his impeachment trial that he had failed to declare $2.4 million in foreign currency deposits. He had insisted that under his interpretation of the law, he was not required to disclose the money.