PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Ignatius Michael D Ingles and Daphne Marie M Gomez, Law Firm of Ingles Laurel Calderon
body. Examples of these sports disputes are those involving sports injuries and employment claims. For sports disputes involving the interpretation of the rules of sports governing bodies (such as on eligibility matters and disciplinary issues), parties must gener - ally exhaust the internal mechanisms of the sports governing body before national courts will consider the matter. This is based on the analogous doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies. However, if there is a human rights element or the act of the sports governing body is oppressive or arbitrary, immediate recourse to a local court may be possible. 6.2 ADR Mechanisms The Philippines currently does not have a dispute resolution mechanism specific to sports. Parties who wish to use ADR may do so under the aegis of Repub - lic Act No 9285, the ADR Act of the Philippines. Pri - vate dispute resolution providers, such as the Philip - pine Dispute Resolution Centre, Inc, have drafted their own sports mediation and arbitration rules, which may be used by sports governing bodies if they choose to do so. 6.3 Sanctions, Remedies and Challenges Sports governing bodies may enforce sanctions on their players and members either through their own internal rules (as long as minimum due process requirements of prior notice and the chance to be heard are met) or through the court system (with con - tract law principles and remedies as a basis). Parties who wish to challenge decisions of governing bodies will have to exhaust the internal mechanisms first. This will generally involve requesting reconsider - ation of a contested decision and, thereafter, elevating it to the international federation with jurisdiction over the local governing body. If the decision is manifestly arbitrary and oppressive, local courts may also be an avenue for redress. 7. Employment Contracts and Rights 7.1 Sports-Related Employment Contracts The governing law for labour and employment in the Philippines is the Labour Code of the Philippines. To
determine whether an employer-employee relation - ship exists between parties, the Supreme Court has repeatedly used the fourfold test, which employs the following four elements: • the selection and engagement of the employee; • the payment of wages; • the power of dismissal over the employee; and • the employer’s power to control the employee’s conduct. Despite the presence of all four elements in the rela - tionship between professional teams and their play - ers, and a 2012 Supreme Court case involving the ille - gal dismissal of a player-employee by his professional team, professional sports teams have still treated their players as independent contractors in practice. This is in clear contrast to what is written in the law, the nature of the relationship, and the international prac - tice that considers players as employees of their pro - fessional teams. This leads to both tax and employ - ment law complications, and removes protections that should have been afforded a player if they were to be considered an employee in the first place. The Philippine Basketball Association, the longest- running professional basketball league in the Philip - pines, employs both a standard contract for its players and a salary cap. Other professional leagues allow their teams to negotiate their own contracts with their players. 7.2 Employer/Employee Rights Despite the employer-employee nature of the rela - tionship between the professional team and its play - ers, legal precedence, and international practice, the rules on employer-employee rights are rarely applied or followed in professional leagues in the Philippines. Consequently, professional athletes who are illegally removed or dismissed from their teams are often left in a quandary on the proper legal course of action to take. Should they file a case with the Labour Arbiter (as employees) or with the regular courts (as independ - ent contractors)? While the correct answer should be the Labour Arbiter, the practice in the Philippines of considering professional athletes as independent con - tractors has allowed employees to raise the additional
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