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
3. The Arbitration Agreement 3.1 Enforceability
Republic Act No 9285, or the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 2004 (the “ADR Act”) is the national legislation governing arbitration. The ADR Act pro - vides that international commercial arbitration is primarily governed by the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law (the “UNCITRAL Model Law”), while domestic arbitration is primarily governed by Republic Act No 876, as amended and supplemented by the ADR Act. The ADR Act also provides that construction arbitra - tion continues to be governed by Executive Order No 1008 which created the CIAC. 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 there has been some interest in ratifying the Singapore Conven - tion on Mediation in 2020, there is no Senate concur - rence yet to this effect. Philippine case law has repeatedly affirmed the public policy favouring arbitration as a mode of dispute reso - lution. In 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that the Court of Appeals may only conduct a factual review of a final award in a CIAC arbitration if it is sufficiently shown that the arbitral tribunal’s integrity is compromised or if it committed unconstitutional or illegal acts. This is grounded on the principle that courts are called to exercise judicial restraint and deference when asked to review the findings of arbitral tribunals, to avoid defeating the purpose of arbitration ( Grand Exploit Builder Development , Inc v Hoegaarden Realty Corp , GR No 267541, 2 April 2025).
Consistent with the UNCITRAL Model Law, Philippine law requires that an arbitration agreement must be in 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 • in an exchange of statements of claim and defence in which even 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, because the Civil Code provi - sions on compromises were made applicable to arbi - trations, the matters that Article 2035 of the Philip - pine Civil Code identifies as those on which no valid compromise may be made are non-arbitrable, namely: • the civil status of persons; • the validity of a marriage or a legal separation; • any ground for legal separation; • future support; • the jurisdiction of the courts; and • future legitime (the reserved share of compulsory heirs in a succession that has not yet opened). Under Article 2034 of the Civil Code, criminal liability likewise cannot be compromised, although the civil liability arising from an offence may be compromised, provided that the compromise does not extinguish the state’s right to prosecute. Separate from these subject matters that are not arbi - trable, Section 6 of the ADR Act and Article 1.3 of
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