Grace Riñoza-Plazo

Grace Riñoza-Plazo was born in Nasugbu, Batangas on March 10, 1948, the daughter of Perla V. de Veas of Looc, Occidental Mindoro, and Pedro L. Riñoza, who served as mayor of Nasugbu from 1956 to 1968, and subsequently from 1981 to 1987. She completed her elementary education at the Looc Central School in 1960, where she graduated valedictorian, and completed her secondary education at the Immaculate Conception College in Balayan in 1964, where she graduated first honorable mention.

Riñoza-Plazo then began her tertiary studies at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1964, pursuing a degree in political science, but then transferred to Canossa College, Lipa, where she graduated in 1970 with a degree in English. She then pursued law studies at the Ateneo de Manila College of Law, where she graduated in 1981, and where she placed 30th in that year's bar examination.[1]

She is currently married to Rodolfo F. Plazo, a civil engineer, and has four children.

Prior to starting her legal practice in 1982, Grace Riñoza-Plazo was employed as branch manager at Foundation Homes Realty from 1971 to 1973, a sales supervisor at V.V. Soliven Realty Corporation from 1973 to 1975, and as proprietor manager of Hearth Realty from 1983 to 1995.[1] In the course of her legal career, she has served as counsel for groups such as the Center of Family Ministries at the Ateneo de Manila University, and the Buklod Kabataan Center, among other groups.[2]

In 2007, she self-published two books on her legal practice and mediation work: Running on Divine Energy and Easing the Pains of Battle.