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
(a) a respondent fails to communicate their state - ment of defence; or (b) a party fails to (i) appear at a hearing or (ii) produce documentary evidence. • Decide whether to: (a) hold oral hearings for the presentation of evi - dence (or oral arguments); or (b) conduct the proceedings on the basis of docu - ments and other materials. • Appoint expert witnesses. • Order the party to give the expert any relevant information or produce any relevant document, goods or other property for the expert’s examina - tion. 7.4 Legal Representatives A party may be represented by any person of their choice. Other than an authorisation in writing, Philip - pine laws do not further specify any particular quali - fication or requirement necessary for representing a party or appearing before an arbitral tribunal. This is true both for domestic and international commercial arbitration. A representative who is not authorised to practise law, however, is not authorised to appear as counsel in any Philippine court or any other quasi-judicial body – even if such appearance may be in relation to the arbitration in which they appear. 8. Evidence 8.1 Collection and Submission of Evidence There are no specific rules that apply to the collec - tion and submission of evidence, including discovery, disclosure, privilege, use of witness statements and cross-examination. As mentioned in 7.1 Governing Rules , the parties are free to agree on the procedure to be followed by the arbitral tribunal during its con - duct of the proceedings and, in the absence of such agreement, the arbitral tribunal may conduct the arbi - tration in such manner as it considers appropriate. However, any party to the arbitration, whether domes - tic or foreign, may request Philippine courts to provide assistance in taking evidence at any time during the course of the arbitral proceedings, when the need
arises. The party requiring assistance in the taking of evidence may petition the Philippine courts to direct any person for any of the following reasons: • to comply with a subpoena ad testificandum and/ or subpoena duces tecum; • to appear as a witness before an officer for the tak - ing of his or her deposition upon oral examination, or by written interrogatories; • to allow physical examination of the condition of persons – or inspection of things or premises – and, when appropriate, to allow the recording and/ or documentation of the condition of persons, things or premises (ie, photographs, video and other means of recording/documentation); • to allow the examination and copying of docu - ments; or • to perform any similar acts. 8.2 Rules of Evidence There are no specific rules of evidence applicable to arbitral proceedings seated in the Philippines. It is generally accepted that the technical rules of evi - dence that apply in Philippine court proceedings are not applicable to arbitration. As mentioned in 7.3 Powers and Duties of Arbitrators , the arbitrators have the power and discretion to determine the admissibil - ity, relevance, materiality and weight of the evidence submitted by the parties. However, at any time before arbitration is commenced, or before the arbitral tribunal is constituted, any per - son who desires to perpetuate his or her testimony or that of another person may do so in accordance with Rule 24 of the Rules of Court in the Philippines. 8.3 Powers of Compulsion Arbitrators have the power to issue subpoenas to compel: • the production of documents, where relevant and material to the case; and • the attendance of any person at a hearing as a wit - ness. However, Philippine law neither expressly grants arbitrators contempt powers nor recognises that they have inherent contempt powers. Arbitrators (or
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