PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko, Ramon G. Songco, Anthony W. Dee and Russel L. Rodriguez, SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan
the rights of any party such as refusing to post - pone a hearing upon sufficient cause shown or to hear evidence pertinent and material to the contro - versy; • one or more of the arbitrators was disqualified to act as such under the law and wilfully refrained from disclosing such disqualification; • the arbitral tribunal exceeded its powers or so imperfectly executed them, such that a complete, final and definite award upon the subject matter submitted to them was not made; • the arbitration agreement did not exist, or is invalid for any ground for the revocation of a contract or is otherwise unenforceable; or • a party to arbitration is a minor or a person judi - cially declared to be incompetent. For international commercial arbitral awards, the grounds to set aside or resist enforcement include the following: • a party to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity, or the said agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties have subjected it or, failing any indication thereof, under Philippine law; • the party making the application to set aside or resist enforcement was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise unable to present his or her case; • the award deals with a dispute not contemplated by or not falling within the terms of the submis - sion to arbitration, or contains decisions or matters beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration – provided that, if the decisions on matters sub - mitted to arbitration can be separated from those not so submitted, only the part of the award which contains decisions on matters not submitted to arbitration may be set aside; • the composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with the law of the country where arbitration took place; • the subject matter of the dispute is not capable of settlement or resolution by arbitration under Philip - pine law; or
• the recognition or enforcement of the award would be contrary to public policy. For foreign arbitral awards, the grounds to refuse rec - ognition and enforcement include the following: • a party to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity, or the said agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties have subjected it or, failing any indication thereof, under Philippine law; • the party making the application to set aside or resist enforcement was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise unable to present his or her case; • the award deals with a dispute not contemplated by or not falling within the terms of the submis - sion to arbitration, or contains decisions or matters beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration – provided that, if the decisions on matters sub - mitted to arbitration can be separated from those not so submitted, only the part of the award which contains decisions on matters not submitted to arbitration may be set aside; • the composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with the law of the country where arbitration took place; • the award has not yet become binding on the par - ties or has been set aside or suspended by a court of the country in which the award was made; • the subject matter of the dispute is not capable of settlement or resolution by arbitration under Philip - pine law; or • the recognition or enforcement of the award would be contrary to public policy. The term “public policy” does not have a precise defi - nition but is generally understood as referring to the fundamental principles of justice and morality. In this context, an arbitral award is considered contrary to public policy when its enforcement involves illegality or immorality of such a degree that it offends the basic tenets of justice and morality or constitutes a clear injury to the public or the interests of society. Thus, the
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