He attended San Beda College where he obtained a degree in Bachelor of Arts, major in philosophy and political Science and graduated with magna cum laude honors in 1967.

[2] He also handled the case of Reynald Lim, the brother of Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.

Lim and his sister faced charges serious illegal detention for detaining their cousin Benhur Luy which led to Napoles' conviction in 2015.

[3] On May 11, 2018, Tijam penned the main decision which removed Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno from her post via a quo warranto petition.

After becoming a lawyer, he worked with the Philippine Judicial Academy, Supreme Court where he is assigned to its Remedial Law Department as professorial lecturer.

[6] Tijam was named among the finalist for the most outstanding Regional Trial Court Judges Award in 1999 which is conferred by the Foundation for Judicial Excellence.