UP Women Lawyers’ Circle, Inc. (WILOCI) is a 74 year old organization of women lawyers from the premier law school of the country, the University of the Philippines College of Law. It was founded in November 1946 by the late Justice Corazon Juliano- Agrava and eight of her colleagues, with the noble purpose of using their legal expertise to improve the welfare of Filipinos, women and children in particular, and lift them from the ravages of World War II.
It was then conscripted by then President Manuel Roxas in 1947 to perform the task of handling juvenile and domestic relations cases. The legal services of WILOCI then paved the way for the formation of the first Court of Juvenile and Domestic Relations, as it was then known. Since then, for the last 74 years, the UP WILOCI has been at the forefront of defending human rights, not only of women and children victims of violence, sexual abuse and other offenses, but also of other noteworthy causes within its expertise in the various fields of law.
It takes pride in having produced majority of the women justices in the Supreme Court, and of recent vintage, the current first female Chief Justice. The WILOCIS, as they are called, can be found lending their legal expertise in all branches of the government- the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary, as well as in business and private practice. The strength and longevity of this vital group can be attributed to the pioneering women who have led the WILOCI as President through the years , to name some from its President Emerita, the late CA Justice Agrava : SC Justice Ameurfina M. Herrera, Pacita de los Reyes-Phillips, the Quisumbing sisters: Emma Q. Fernando and Yolanda Q. Javellana, 1946 bar topnotcher Gregoria Cruz- Arnaldo and her daughter Ana Teresa Arnaldo-Oracion, Sylvia Lopez- Alejandro, best of friends Tessie Cruz- Sison and Ester Sison- Cruz, Cong. Bellaflor Angara- Castillo, Ambassador & SEC Chair Lilia R. Bautista, ACCRALAW partners, Violeta Calvo- Drilon, Victoria de los Reyes and Regina Padilla- Geraldez, private practitioners: Cleofe Verzola, Delia Hermoso, Eva Policar- Bautista, Romulo Law partners Maria Teresita Sison Go and Teresita Villaruz, Katrina Legarda, Fides Cordero- Tan, Fina de la Cuesta- Tantuico, Diana Franco, Wilma Cua, Sylvette Y. Tankiang, Arlene G. Lapuz-Ureta and the present President, Anna Maria “Ada” D. Abad.
Despite their busy professional lives, the WILOCIs have not lost their original vision – mission: they are at the forefront of rendering legal aid for the disadvantaged by maintaining a free Legal Aid Center (at the TOPS Annex Bldg. in Sta Ana Manila), spreading legal literacy to the uninformed and doing painstaking legal research on the complexities of the law, contributing to the delivery of justice and enhancing the legal framework of the country so that the rule of law may prevail.