Margarita holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Ateneo de Manila University and Masters in Public Health from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, majoring in International Family Planning, with special studies in Sex Therapy and Marriage Counselling . She received her A.B. in Psychology, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of the Philippines, and was adjudged Most Outstanding Graduate for 1973 by the U.P. Alumni Association. She was elected into membership of the International Honor Societies of the Phi Kappa Phi and the Pi Gamma Mu.She has been a practising clinical psychologist since 1975 and has served as a consultant to various private and government organizations; among them the Population Center Foundation and the Department of Health. She taught at the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila and Assumption. At present, she is a part-time lecturer on psychology at a University in the U.S.
