PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Ricardo Ma P G Ongkiko, John Christian Joy A Regalado and Ma Patricia B Paz-Jacoba, SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan
SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan SyCipLaw Center 105 Paseo de Roxas Makati City 1229 Philippines
Tel: +63 2 8982 3500 Fax: +63 2 8848 2030 Email: sshg@syciplaw.com Web: www.syciplaw.com
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration
Resolution Center, Inc (PDRCI) is used the most for other commercial disputes. Under a unique Philippine construction arbitration law, the CIAC is granted original and exclusive jurisdiction over construction disputes in which the parties have agreed to arbitration. Where the parties have named another arbitration institution in their arbitral agree - ment, the Supreme Court has interpreted the law to still incorporate the CIAC into the agreement as an alternative choice of arbitration institution. On the other hand, the PDRCI is the most established arbi - tral institution in the country for commercial disputes, having been founded in 1996. Although no new arbitral institutions were established in the Philippines in 2024, Philippine advocates and practitioners continue to promote the use of the Phil - ippine International Center for Conflict Resolution (PICCR), which was established only in 2019 by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). 1.4 National Courts There are no specific courts in the Philippines that are designated to hear disputes related to interna - tional arbitrations and/or domestic arbitrations. The regional trial courts, which are the regular trial courts in the Philippines, have original jurisdiction over peti - tions relating to arbitration under the Special Rules of Court on Alternative Dispute Resolution (“Special ADR Rules”).
There has been a continual rise in the use of inter - national arbitration to resolve disputes in the Philip - pines, in line with the public policy of favouring arbitra - tion and increasing efforts to incorporate arbitration agreements in commercial contracts. While disputes between only domestic parties are still largely resolved through court litigation, there is now a preference to resort to international arbitration in matters involv- ing foreign counterparties or transactions with an offshore element in the interests of expeditiousness, predictability and ensuring minimal court intervention. International arbitration results from a combination of being the selected mode of dispute resolution (where there is a foreign counterparty) and in relation to the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. 1.2 Key Industries There does not appear to be any particular industry that experienced a significant increase or decrease in international arbitration activity in recent years. Although there was a slowdown in international arbi - tration in the Philippines at the beginning of the pan - demic, probably owing to economic uncertainty, inter - national arbitration activity has since normalised, and even improved. 1.3 Arbitration Institutions Among the domestic arbitral institutions, the one most used for international arbitration involving construc - tion disputes is the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC). However, the Philippine Dispute
607 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook