Justice Corazon G. Ferrer-Flores took her oath as Associate Justice of the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) on October 19, 2022 after having served the Supreme Court for more than thirty-five (35) years. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and was admitted to the Bar in 1987 after placing 10th among the successful candidates in the 1986 Bar examinations.
She finished her law studies with Magna cum Laude honors at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and was the recipient of the Rector’s Award as class Valedictorian. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Commerce degree, Major in Accounting, in 1978 also from the same university with Magna cum Laude honors finishing as the Salutatorian of the Commerce graduating class and received the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants award as Outstanding Student of Accountancy for finishing as the top accounting graduate.
At the UST, she was a consistent College Scholar and Dean’s Lister while taking up her accounting and law studies, even topping the qualifying examinations for accounting majors. Her elementary and high school years were spent at Siena College where she was a consistent honor student in Academics, Religion and Spanish and finished as Top 5 of the graduating High School Class of 1974.
Justice Flores began her more than forty (40) years of government service in July 1979 as an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), where she worked for five and a half (5 ½) years. She finished the basic training course for NBI Agents as the gold medalist of the 21st batch composed of fourteen (14) male-lawyer agents and herself as the lone female CPA. She pursued her law studies while working at the NBI.
Her career in the Judiciary started on August 3, 1987, when she joined the legal staff of then Supreme Court Associate Justice EMILIO A. GANCAYCO as coterminous Technical Assistant II. She was an Attorney V at the late Justice’s office when she was appointed to the permanent position of Court Attorney III as Chief of the Bar Complaints Division at the Office of the Bar Confidant (OBC) in August 1991. She served as Court Attorney at the OBC for about twelve (12) years at the time of her appointment as Assistant Bar Confidant on April 25, 2003.
In January 2005, while she was still the Assistant Bar Confidant, Justice Flores was diagnosed to have Large Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome (LVAS) which resulted in profound hearing loss to both ears. With the aid of modern technology coupled with a resilient spirit, she has managed to lead a “normal” life. Despite her disability and as a testament to the Court’s belief in her competence and ability, she even assumed greater responsibilities when she was promoted to the position of Chief of the Fiscal Management and Budget Office (FMBO) of the Supreme Court on November 15, 2005.
Justice Flores was subsequently granted on February 7, 2006 the rank of a Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge with the position title of Deputy Clerk of Court and Chief, FMBO, by the Court En Banc. As FMBO Chief, she supervised and managed the operations of the FMBO and its seven (7) divisions and acted as the Chief Financial Officer of the Judiciary for more than seventeen (17) years, serving under nine (9) Chief Justices during that period. She was also a member of more than thirty (30) Judiciary-wide and Supreme Court committees and represented the Court before oversight government agencies.
Despite her heavy workload at the OBC and later at the FMBO, she found the time to pursue her interests in the performing arts. She was a founding member of the Supreme Court Choir in 1988 and was its President at the time of her appointment to the CTA. She was also an avid student of Flamenco/Dança Clássica Espanhola and was affiliated with the Centro Flamenco for more than two (2) decades.
Justice Flores’ many years of dedicated government service was recognized by the Supreme Court Programs on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence (PRAISE) Committee on the occasion of her mandatory retirement on August 22, 2022. She was on extended service as FMBO Chief when she was appointed to the CTA. Fittingly, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities commemorated on December 3, 2022, she received her Outstanding Alumni Award from the UST Law Foundation, Inc.
Born and raised in Quezon City, Justice Flores is the younger of two (2) daughters of the late Laureano A. Ferrer of Lingayen, Pangasinan, who retired as General Manager of the General Auditing Office (now Commission on Audit), and the late Marciana M. Gonzales, businesswoman and homemaker from San Isidro, Nueva Ecija.
She is married to retired Judge Carlos M. Flores, formerly Presiding Judge of RTC-Branch 73, Malabon City, with whom she has a son Carlos Leonardo, a computer engineering graduate from the Ateneo de Manila University