Carolina Griño-Aquino

Who was Carolina Griño-Aquino?

Carolina Griño-Aquino was a Filipino judge. She served as a Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals of the Philippines prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court of the Philippines by President Corazon Aquino in 1988. She served on the Supreme Court as an Associate Justice from February 2, 1988 until October 22, 1993. Griño-Aquino was the fourth woman after Associate Justices Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera and Irene Cortes.

Her husband, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Ramon Aquino, had previously served on the Court from 1985 to 1986 prior to her appointment.

She was born on October 22, 1923. She graduated magna cum laude with a liberal arts degree from the Colegio de San Agustin in Iloilo City. Griño-Aquino then obtained a law degree from the University of the Philippines in 1950. She placed first in the 1950 Bar Exams with a score of 92.02 percent.

Following her retirement from the Supreme Court in 1993, Griño-Aquino became the first Chairperson of the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Committee. The Supreme Court also appointed Griño-Aquino as a member or leader of several investigations, including the probe of the Bar Exam leakage in 2003, the GSIS-Meralco bribery case in 2008, the investigation of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines elections in 2009.