Reynato Serrano Puno

Reynato Puno y Serrano, KGCR (Filipino: Reynato Serrano Puno; born May 17, 1940) is a Filipino jurist. He served as the 22nd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from December 8, 2006 by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo until his mandatory retirement on May 17, 2010. Puno had initially been appointed to the Supreme Court as an Associate Justice on June 28, 1993.

Puno was appointed on January 23, 2018 as the chairperson of the Consultative Committee to Review the 1987 Constitution by virtue of Executive Order No. 10.

Puno earned his law degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman. During his stay in the state university, he also served as editor of The Philippine Collegian. He would later finish post-graduate studies at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas (Master of Comparative Laws), University of California, Berkeley (Master of Laws), and University of Illinois (finished all academic requirements of the degree of Doctor of Judicial Science).

Puno began his legal career in private practice. In 1969, he joined the law practice of his elder brother Isaac, a future judge whose murder at age 42 remains unsolved to date. In 1971, he joined the Office of the Solicitor General, where he would serve for the next nine years. In 1980, Puno was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos as a Justice of the Court of Appeals. He rejoined the executive department in 1984, this time as a Deputy Minister of Justice. Upon the assumption into office of President Corazon Aquino in 1986, Puno was reappointed to the Court of Appeals.

Puno has been praised for his erudite and literary writing style. His predecessor as Chief Justice, Artemio Panganiban, once lauded Puno's writing in the following manner: "Like a trained surgeon, he uses his pen with razor-like precision to separate the excise fabrication from truth and pretension from reality. In the process, he gives life to populist causes and libertarian ideals. Darting, gutsy and erudite, he often wages lonely battles against conventional wisdom with his stirring dissents and insightful opinion." (Panganiban, Justice and Faith, p. 142)