Born in
Davao City to Bernardo Dumlao Carpio and Sol Gonzales Tirol, Carpio finished his elementary and secondary education at the
Ateneo de Davao University. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Economics from the
Ateneo de Manila University in 1970 and his law degree from the
University of the Philippines College of Law at
UP Diliman where he graduated valedictorian and cum laude in 1975. He is married to
Vietnamese Bach Yen "Ruth" Nguyen Carpio. At U.P., Carpio was the
Philippine Law Journal's Chairman of the editorial board,
The Guidon's
editor-in-chief and Managing Editor of the
Philippine Collegian.He ranked sixth with a rating of 85.70% in the 1975
Philippine Bar Examination. After law school, Carpio went into private practice. In 1980, with a borrowed capital of just P100,000 he co-founded the Carpio Villaraza Cruz law offices, known in local legal circles in the Philippines as 'The Firm', in reference to
John Grisham's
'The Firm'. Carpio also taught
tax law,
corporate law, and negotiable instruments law at the
University of the Philippines College of Law from 1983 to 1992. He became a member of the Board of Regents of the
University of the Philippines from 1993 to 1998. In 1992, he joined the administration of
President Fidel Ramos as chief presidential legal counsel of the Office of the President. As such, he worked for major reforms in telecommunications, shipping, civil aviation, and insurance industries. During the presidency of
Joseph Estrada, Carpio returned to private practice and penned a regular opinion column published in the
Philippine Daily Inquirer. Carpio was the first appointee of
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the
Supreme Court of the Philippines after her assumption into office in January 2001. At the age of 52, he was one of the youngest appointees to the Supreme Court. building.] of Carpio. ,
SC Carpio received the Presidential Medal of Merit from President Fidel Ramos in 1998 for his "distinguished and exemplary service" to the country, the Outstanding Achievement in Law Award from the Ateneo de Manila Alumni Association, and an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Ateneo de Davao University. The University of the Philippines Alumni Association named him Outstanding U.P. Alumni in Public International Law in 2015 and the Most Distinguished Alumni in 2017. Being the senior associate justice, he assumed the post of acting chief justice on May 29, 2012 until the
president appointed a new chief justice. He was the expected appointee as Inquirer op-ed writer
Margaux Salcedo pointed out: "Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio is necessarily in the lead, as he is the most senior of all the sitting justices. Tradition dictates that he must be the automatic successor to the throne." He assumed the post again on March 1, 2018, as Chief Justice
Maria Lourdes Sereno filed an indefinite leave in the midst of impeachment proceedings against her. Carpio chaired the court's Second Division and the Senate Electoral Tribunal. He also headed the Supreme Court's Committee on the Revision of the Rules of Court. Carpio served the SC for 18 years (November 6, 2009 – October 26, 2019). He wrote history by presiding as acting chief justice for eight months—longer than CJ appointed Senior Associate Justices like
Teresita de Castro (two months),
Pedro Yap (three months) and
Jose Abad Santos (four months). He holds the record on longest-serving associate justice, second to
Cayetano Arellano, 19 years from 1901 to 1920, but Arellano never served as an associate justice. He refused the final honor of retirement
ceremony with an
En banc special session at the Court's session hall. Instead, he bestowed a
Bye Bye dinner for selected ones at
Conrad Hotel. In October, 2019, CJ
Artemio Panganiban summarized Carpio's
Judicial and Bar Council nomination for chances to be appointed
Chief Justice of the Philippines. First, he declined on May 17, 2010, the post vacated by
Reynato Puno out of "delicadeza.' "I do not want to be known as Mr. Midnight Chief Justice," he explained. Second, was on May 29, 2012, after the
Impeachment of Renato Corona. In the just concluded Malacañang interview,
Benigno Aquino III later phoned him that he "could not appoint me because some of his key Senate allies and three prominent business leaders opposed my promotion." Third, was after the
Quo warranto petition against Maria Lourdes Sereno removal on May 11, 2018, considering he wrote the
legal opinion that "the Court had no power to oust its members". Fourth, after CJ
Teresita de Castro's October 10, 2018 retirement. He accepted his nomination, but President
Rodrigo Duterte appointed
Lucas Bersamin, only the third most senior justice. Fifth, CJ Panganiban stated being informed by Lucio Singh that Duterte would appoint Carpio for a day or two before his compulsory retirement. Carpio, however refused the last and automatic nomination, on the ground that he would be crowned "Mr. One-Day Chief Justice."
Legal issue In 2012, the High Tribunal dismissed the
disbarment filed by
Lauro Vizconde. Carpio, as chief legal counsel of President
Fidel Ramos was charged regarding the 1992 "influential appointments". == South China Sea dispute ==