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
Philippine courts are mandated to disregard any grounds to set aside or vacate the arbitral award other than those listed. Procedure for Setting Aside the Arbitral Award A verified petition must be filed with the proper regional trial court within three months of receiving the arbitral award; it cannot be filed after the three- month period has elapsed. If a petition to recognise and enforce the arbitral award is already pending, the petition to set aside must be filed in opposition to the petition to recognise. Failure to file a petition to set aside will preclude a party from raising grounds to resist enforcement of the award. If the petition filed is sufficient in both form and sub - stance, the court will issue notice to the other party directing them to file an opposition thereto within 15 days of receiving the petition. The court will then determine whether the issue is one of law or if there are issues of fact. • When the issues are of law, parties will be required to submit legal argument briefs within 15 days of receiving the order. • When there are issues of fact, the court will require the parties to submit their: (a) witness affidavits (attaching all documents relied upon) within the same 15-day period; and (b) reply to affidavits within ten days of receipt of such affidavits. If the court finds, on the basis of the pleadings and the affidavits, that there is a need to conduct oral hear - ings, the court will set the case for the hearing. At such hearing, the witnesses’ affidavits constitute their direct testimonies, and these witnesses will immedi - ately undergo cross-examination. The court will have full control over the proceedings to ensure that the case is heard without delay. Unless a ground to set aside has been fully estab - lished, the court will dismiss the petition to set aside. If, in the same proceedings, a petition to recognise and enforce the arbitral award was filed in opposition
to the petition to set aside, the court will recognise and enforce the arbitral award. The decision of the regional trial court in the petition to set aside can be reviewed by the Court of Appeals via a verified petition for review filed within 15 days from notice of the court’s decision or denial of the petitioner’s motion for reconsideration. The decision of the Court of Appeals may be reviewed by the Supreme Court – not as a matter of right, but only of sound judicial discretion – if there are serious and compelling reasons resulting in grave prejudice to the aggrieved party, as per those grounds listed in Rule 19.36 of the Special ADR Rules or those closely analogous thereto. The appeal by certiorari to the Supreme Court must be made within 15 days from notice of the court’s decision or denial of the peti - tioner’s motion for reconsideration. For compelling or justifiable reasons, the Supreme Court may grant an extension of 30 days within which to file the petition. 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal Philippine laws provide that recourse to the court against an international commercial award may only be made by an application to set aside in accord - ance with the provisions in the UNCITRAL Model Law, which also sets out the specific grounds on which the arbitral award may be set aside. It is generally accepted that the grounds to set aside/ vacate an arbitral award are exclusive. Rule 12.4, in relation to Rule 19.10, of the Special ADR Rules pro - vides that any ground for setting aside an interna - tional arbitral award other than those expressly enu - merated therein, which reflect the grounds under the UNCITRAL Model Law, will not be considered by the court unless the same amounts to a violation of public policy. Although there has been no Supreme Court decision on this point, it is reasonable to conclude that parties may not exclude or expand the grounds on which an arbitral award may be challenged through a contractual agreement. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review In Fruehauf Electronic Philippines Corporation v Tech- nology Electronics Assembly and Management Pacific
711 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook