The youngest of four children and the only son of Juan Garcia and Benedicta Castillo, both illiterates, in the remote barrio of Concordia in Alitagtag municipality of Batangas province.

Starting his education at the P. Gomez Elementary School (Manila), and thereafter at the Arellano (Public) High School (Manila), he qualified for admission to the University of the Philippines College of Law.

He obtained a post-graduate degree in public administration as a government scholar from the University of Santo Tomas in 1967.

President Corazon Aquino later appointed him as assistant executive secretary for legal affairs.

He was then appointed as a judge of the Philippine Court of Appeals where he served for almost fourteen years until 2004, first as an associate justice, then as presiding justice of that court, a position he held twice – from March 14 to July 29, 2001, and April 11, 2002, to April 8, 2003.