PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Leland R Villadolid J, Gilberto D Gallos, Antonio Jose Gerardo T Paz and Leo Frederick Z Cruz, Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz (ACCRALAW)
fees are paid (or not) upon the final resolution of the case or when an acceptable settlement is reached. The legal fees may be payable in cash or, in many cases, real property or a portion thereof. The legal fees may be a percentage of the judgment award, or the amount received by the client in the case of a settlement. 2.7 Time Limit for Obtaining Third-Party Funding Please see 2.1 Third-Party Litigation Funding . Private agreements between the parties prescribing certain preconditions (including referral to arbitration, mediation or any mode of alternative dispute resolu- tion) to litigation are legally binding. Failure to comply with such a precondition renders the case dismissible on the ground that a condition precedent for filing the claim has not been complied with. The Katarungang Pambarangay Law provides that private civil disputes and minor crimes involving resi- dents of the same city or municipality must first under- go mandatory mediation at the barangay level before a case may be filed before the courts. The Civil Code of the Philippines also requires members of the same family to exert earnest efforts towards a compromise before filing an action against each other. 3. Initiating a Lawsuit 3.1 Rules on Pre-Action Conduct The Philippines also adheres to the doctrine of exhaus- tion of administrative remedies, which mandates that disputes falling within the jurisdiction of administrative or quasi-judicial agencies must first be raised before the proper government agency prior to filing a com- plaint with the courts. 3.2 Statutes of Limitations The prescriptive periods for initiating particular civil actions are mostly found in the Civil Code. The prescriptive period for filing civil cases ranges from one to 30 years depending on the nature of the action. In general:
• civil actions for personal injury claims, real property damage claims and torts prescribe four years; • actions for breach of written contracts, enforce- ment of statutory obligations and judicial decisions prescribe ten years; • actions based on oral contracts or quasi-contracts prescribe six years; • summary actions for recovery of possession of real property prescribe one year; • actions to recover movable property prescribe eight years; and • actions to enforce real rights over immovable prop- erty prescribe 30 years. All other actions whose periods are not fixed in the Civil Code or in other laws must be brought within five years from the time the right of action accrues. 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant The general rule is that a court acquires jurisdiction over the person of the defendant in civil cases by ser- vice of summons. However, even without valid service of summons, a court may still acquire jurisdiction over the person of the defendant if the latter voluntarily appears before it. A defendant is deemed to have vol- untarily submitted to the jurisdiction of the court if they seek affirmative relief from the court. 3.4 Initial Complaint A civil action is commenced when the plaintiff files a “complaint” with the appropriate court. A complaint is the initial document filed by the plaintiff in a lawsuit containing the allegations, legal claims and the relief sought. Generally, the plaintiff is required to attach to the complaint the sworn statements of their intended witnesses and copies of the documentary evidence cited in the body of the complaint. A plaintiff is allowed to amend the complaint once as a matter of right at any time before the defendant files a responsive pleading, called an “answer”. After the defendant files an answer, the plaintiff may make substantial amendments to the complaint only with leave of court. Formal or nominal amendments to the complaint may be made at any stage of the judicial proceedings, provided this can be done without preju- dice to the defendant.
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