A product of the UP College of Law where she graduated in 1962, Justice Ynares-Santiago started her career in the judiciary in 1973 when she was appointed Municipal Judge of Cainta, Rizal, a position she held for thirteen years.  In November 1986, she was appointed Regional Trial Court Judge of Makati where she remained until her appointment to the Court of Appeals in 1990.

Justice Ynares-Santiago’s career has been marked with calm but courageous disposition and independence of mind.  She is the celebrated judge who, during the Marcos regime, acquitted former Education Secretary Alejandro Roces on charges of the violation of the Election Code when he boycotted the April 7, 1981 plebiscite.  It was also Justice Ynares-Santiago, then a Regional Trial Court Judge of Makati designated by the Supreme Court as Hearing Commissioner, who recommended the opening of Banco Filipino.

A native of Binangonan, Rizal, where she was born on October 5, 1939, Justice Ynares-Santiago received in 1994 the Pambayang Gawad Palosebo, the highest municipal award given to outstanding citizens of Binangonan, Rizal who have excelled in their professions and are role models for the youth.

She was “Ulirang Ina” Awardee for Law and Judiciary given by the National Mother’s Day and Father’s Day Foundation of the Philippines on May 7, 1995 and a “Gintong Ina” Awardee by the Golden Mother and Father Foundation on May 11, 1997.

Justice Ynares-Santiago was Bar Examiner in Labor Law and Social Legislation in the 1996 Bar Examinations and in Taxation in the 1998 Bar Examinations.

Justice Ynares-Santiago is not only a dedicated jurist and loving wife to the late Atty. Francisco B. Santiago, but also a devoted mother to four (4) accomplished children:  Pura Angelica, also a product of the UP College of Law, presently the Managing Partner of Santiago, Cruz & Sarte Law Offices and 2003-2005 Governor of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Southern Luzon Region; Jonas Francisco, a doctor of medicine, graduate of the UP PGH, now Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Center Director and Nuclear Medicine Department Chairman at St. Luke’s Medical Center; Regina Carmela, another doctor of medicine, graduate of UERMMC, currently an Active Staff Consultant in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Medical City; and, Jennylind Allison, a graduate of BS HRM at UP and Post-Graduate Course in Marketing at the University of California at Berkeley, now Marketing Executive in MERALCO.

Justice Santiago has done much to improve the image of women in the field of law, business and politics.  She was a speaker at the Regional Workshop on Women in Business and Politics in Southeast Asia which was held in Singapore in December 1990.  In October 1999, she was invited by the International Women’s Forum to attend its 15th Annual Global Conference in Washington, D.C. and join a panel with US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg to speak on the topic “The Courts and Women’s Rights:  Trendsetters or Arbiter?”.  She was also a guest speaker at the International Women’s Day celebration of the Metro Manila Council of Women Balikatan Movement in March 2000.