Micaela Cayton Garrido graduated from Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines with a B.A. in communications (1998) and a J.D. from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law (2002). In 1995 she joined Tugon, a student organization whose members volunteered at a halfway home for abandoned babies and abused girls. She later became Tugon's president. In law school, Micaela was active at the Ateneo Human Rights Center, first as an intern and later as a facilitator and lecturer. From 1999 to 2002 she was a volunteer for the Ateneo Legal Aid office. From 2002 to 2004, Micaela worked for the Supreme Court of the Philippines, assisting in the research, writing and the promulgation of cases concerning constitutional, political, economic, criminal, and civil matters.