 Later, he earned his Bachelor of Arts from Colegio de San Juan de Letran and his degree of Bachelor of Laws and Jurisprudence from the University of Santo Tomas at the age of 25.He was appointed an Associate Justice of the newly created Supreme Court of the Philippines in 1901, together with Cayetano Arellano and Florentino Torres.He left the Supreme Court to be Secretary of Finance and Justice in 1913 during which he also served on the Philippine Commission, the upper house of the Philippine Legislature.