Malou completed her Master of Arts in Political Management (2002) specializing in Lobbying. She is the first Filipino to graduate from the prestigious Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) of the George Washington University. GSPM has been cited by the New York Times as the political "West Point" of the United States.

She earned her A.B. Political Science (1987) and her Master in Public Administration major in Public Policy and Program Administration degrees (1991) from the University of the Philippines.

She has 15 years of government service, from 1985 to 1999 covering the Executive and Legislative Branches of the Philippine government as well as the local governments. At the Executive Branch, she worked with the Environmental Management Bureau and the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) during the term of Her Excellency Corazon C. Aquino. She was part of the team that implemented the Organic Act for Muslim Mindanao.

At the Legislative Branch, she has distinguished herself as a pioneer in the revived Congress which was opened in 1987. She served as Technical Assistant to Senator Rene A.V. Saguisag from 1987-1989 in the Senate. She joined the House of Representatives from 1992-1999 as the Chief of Staff of Representative Roilo Golez.

In 1991, she was selected by The Asia Foundation as a U.S. Congressional Fellow under the program of the American Political Science Association. She was a committee staff to the U.S. House Environment Subcommittee under the chairmanship of New York Democrat, James Scheuer. The other half of the year she spent at the U.S. Senate as a personal staff to California Republican, Sen. John Seymour. As a U.S. Congressional Fellow, she took part in the Canadian Parliament Exchange Program and had an actual experience as a campaign volunteer to the presidential campaigns of Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Nebraska) at Nashua, New Hampshire and for then Gov. Bill Clinton (D-Arkansas) at Silver Spring, Maryland.

In 1994, His Excellency President Fidel V. Ramos appointed her as member of the Countrywide Industrialization Management Board. In 1997, she was awarded a MASHAV Scholarship by the Embassy of Israel under its Field Study Internship Program. She studied the Knesset (Parliament) of Israel and her paper dealt on the effects of Holocaust on the Members of the 14th Knesset.

In 1999, she was a management consultant to the National Security Adviser, Hon. Alexander P. Aguirre.

She taught undergraduate and graduate students of the University of the Philippines and De La Salle University. She has been involved in various consultancy work dealing with Congress, advocacy and lobbying. Ms. Tiquia was the first Executive Director of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines created by R.A. No. 7160.

Her fields of specialization are Policy Analysis, Governance, Legislation, Advocacy and Lobbying, Government Relations, Local Government, Strategic Management, Sustainable Development, Political Management, Capability Building, Regulatory Administration, Spectrum Reform and Telecommunications, Product Liability Reform, e-Democracy and e-Governance, and Democracy Audit.