PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Ignatius Michael D Ingles and Daphne Marie M Gomez, Law Firm of Ingles Laurel Calderon
may be used to limit liability, but liability arising from intentional harm, future fraud, and gross negligence may not be excluded. The assumption of risk doctrine may also be invoked by sports organisers, as long as the risks are reasonably foreseeable. To keep sporting events safe, organisers often contract security agen - cies. For larger events, organisers co-ordinate with the local government and local police to maintain peace and order both inside and outside the venues. The same duty of care applies to athletes’ liability to spectators. However, athletes are protected if the injury to a spectator is a foreseeable event, based on the assumption of risk. An athlete may be held liable, however, for spectator injuries if these resulted from intentional acts (as was seen in a basketball incident where an athlete attacked a fan). Professional sports clubs are commonly stock corpo - rations registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As professional sports clubs operate for profit, stock corporations are adopted as these allow the owners to earn profits via dividends as stockholders. Adopting a different structure would prevent investors from receiving such dividends. Non-professional sports clubs and sports governing bodies, including NSAs, are commonly structured as non-stock, non-profit corporations, also registered with the SEC. Non-stock corporations are estab - lished and operated by their members who are not entitled to receive dividends. As the aim of amateur clubs is to develop camaraderie among their members rather than generate profits, these clubs adopt a non- stock, non-profit structure, which also has tax ben - efits. Sports governing bodies or NSAs are required to adopt a non-stock, non-profit structure in order to apply for membership and recognition with both the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission. 4.2 Corporate Governance Codes There are no sport-specific corporate governance codes, except the provisions of the Republic Act No 4. Corporate Structures 4.1 Legal Forms of Sporting Bodies
6847, which created the Philippine Sports Commis - sion. These provisions govern the sports governing bodies or NSAs of each sport. They require that the NSAs are autonomous and that no team, school, club, organisation or entity may be admitted as a voting member of the NSA unless 60% of the athletes com - prising that team school, club, organisation or entity are Filipino citizens. Owner and directors’ tests, such as tests on self- dealing directors, may be found in the general law on corporations (The Revised Corporation Code) and also apply to these sports governing bodies or NSAs. 4.3 Sport Funding The PSC is the main governmental funding source for Philippine sports. Congress allocates funds to the PSC through the Annual General Appropriations Act. To supplement the budget allocated by Congress, the PSC also receives a legally mandated portion of the gross income of PAGCOR, the government-owned and controlled corporation in charge of regulating gambling and casinos. After finding that PAGCOR had not been remitting the full 5% of its gross income to the PSC, the Supreme Court recently ordered PAG - COR to account for and remit the full amount of its gross income per year from 1993 to the present. PSC funds are pooled into the National Sports Devel - opment Fund (NSDF), which finances the sports events in which the Philippines participates. As for distributing these funds to the NSAs, the PSC has discretion to decide which NSA receives a portion of the NSDF and the amount. Factors that influence the distribution and allocation of funds include the prestige of the sport and also the chances of securing Olympic medals. Once the NSA receives the money, it is then accountable to the PSC and subject to audit. 5. Intellectual Property, Data and Data Protection 5.1 Trade Marks Trade marks may be registered online with the Intel - lectual Property Office (IPO). Trade mark owners only acquire the rights in a mark through registration. Gen -
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