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
2. Governing Legislation 2.1 Governing Law
writing. This requirement is satisfied if the arbitration agreement is: • an electronic document; • in a document signed by the parties; • in an exchange of letters, telegrams or other means of telecommunication; or • even in an exchange of statements of claim and defence in which the existence of the agreement is alleged by one party and not denied by the other party. Furthermore, the Supreme Court has ruled that an arbitration agreement is a contract in itself – a sepa - rate agreement independent of the main contract. As such, it must comply with the Philippine Civil Code’s requirements for a valid contract, which are consent, object and cause or consideration. 3.2 Arbitrability Commercial disputes in the Philippines are generally arbitrable. However, the Implementing Rules and Reg - ulations (IRR) of the ADR Act provide that the following matters cannot be referred to arbitration: • labour disputes covered by the Labor Code of the Philippines and its rules; • the civil status of persons; • the validity of marriage; • any ground for legal separation; • the jurisdiction of courts; • disputes that by law cannot be compromised; and • disputes referred to court-annexed mediation. 3.3 National Courts’ Approach The Supreme Court has ruled that the law agreed upon by the parties in the arbitration agreement shall gov - ern considering that party autonomy is the essence of arbitration. In the absence of such designation, the law determined by the applicable conflict of law rules shall govern. Courts are mandated to favour arbitration. The Supreme Court has ruled that arbitration agreements are to be liberally construed in favour of proceeding to arbitration and that courts should generally adopt • future legitime; • criminal liability;
Republic Act No 9285, or the Alternative Dispute Res - olution Act of 2004 (the “ADR Act”), is the national legislation governing arbitration in the Philippines. It provides that international commercial arbitration shall primarily be governed by the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law (the “UNCITRAL Model Law”). The ADR Act does not diverge in any significant way from the UNCITRAL Model Law. 2.2 Changes to National Law There have been no significant changes to the ADR Act and related issuances, although there was a pro - posed bill in the Senate (Senate Bill No 1308, filed 12 September 2022) to adopt the 2006 amendments to the UNICTRAL Model Law “to update the commercial arbitration practices in the Philippines in conformity with international standards”. And while the Philip - pines has shown interest in ratifying the Singapore Convention on Mediation in 2020, there is no Senate concurrence yet to this effect. In any case, Philippine case law has repeatedly affirmed the public policy favouring arbitration as a mode of dispute resolution. Early this year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Court of Appeals may only conduct a factual review of the CIAC’s final award if it is sufficiently shown that the arbitral tribunal’s integrity is compromised or if it committed unconsti - tutional or illegal acts. There are very stringent and limited instances when a factual review of the CIAC’s final award may be conducted. This is grounded on the principle that courts are called to exercise judi - cial restraint and deference when asked to review the findings of arbitral tribunals, to avoid defeating the purpose of arbitration ( Grand Exploit Builder Develop- ment, Inc v Hoegaarden Realty Corp , GR No 267541, 2 April 2025).
3. The Arbitration Agreement 3.1 Enforceability
Consistent with the UNCITRAL Model Law, Philippine law requires that an arbitration agreement must be in
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