PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Ramon G. Songco, Anthony W. Dee, Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko and Russel L. Rodriguez, SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan
eign judgment, the litigant may file a motion for exe - cution of the foreign judgment pursuant to the trial court’s recognition of such judgment. An aggrieved party may appeal the decision to the appellate court. A decision of the appellate court may be further appealed to the Supreme Court. 3.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Foreign Judgments Since a petition for recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment involves an action that is incapable of pecuniary estimation, it requires the payment of only a minimal filing fee. It usually takes six to 18 months for the trial court to render its decision on a case. Afterwards, the aggrieved party may still appeal the decision of the trial court with the appellate court, which can take one to two years to render a decision. Finally, the deci - sion of the appellate court can still be appealed to the Supreme Court, which can take another one to two years to render a decision. If the foreign judgment is against the Philippine gov - ernment, or its instrumentalities and agencies, the judgment creditor also needs to file a money claim with the Commission on Audit after the foreign judg - ment has been recognised and enforced by the Philip - pine courts. The Commission on Audit is vested with jurisdiction to settle all accounts pertaining to the expenditures or uses of funds and property owned by the Philippine government, or any of its subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities, including government- owned and controlled corporations, and is charged with the duty to settle all debts and claims of any sort due from or owing to the Philippine government, or any of its subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentali - ties. The Commission on Audit may take one to two years to render a decision, and the aggrieved party may still appeal the decision of the Commission on Audit to the Supreme Court, which can take another one to two years to render a decision. 3.6 Challenging Enforcement of Foreign Judgments A foreign judgment may be impeached and not enforced if the party proves in the action for recogni -
tion and enforcement of the foreign judgment the want of jurisdiction of the court rendering the judgment, and the want of notice to the party, collusion, fraud, or clear mistake of law or fact. In addition, a foreign judgment may also not be enforced if it is against the Constitution or public policy. 4. Arbitral Awards 4.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Arbitral Awards The rules governing the enforcement of an arbitral award will vary depending on the type of arbitration proceedings leading to the issuance of the arbitral award. Under the Special Rules of Court on Alterna - tive Dispute Resolution (Special ADR Rules), there are three types of arbitration proceedings the awards of which can be recognised and enforced before Philip - pine courts – namely, domestic arbitration, interna - tional commercial arbitration, and foreign arbitration. Domestic arbitration is an arbitration proceeding held in the Philippines that is not “international” as contem - plated under Article 1 (3) of the Model Law on Interna - tional Commercial Arbitration adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 21 June 1985 (Model Law). International commercial arbitration is an arbitration proceeding held in the Philippines that is both “inter - national” and “commercial”. As defined by the Model Law, which the Philippines has adopted by reference, an arbitration is “interna - tional” if: • the parties to an arbitration agreement have, at the time of the conclusion of that agreement, their places of business in different states; or • one of the following places is outside the state in which the parties have their places of business: (a) the place of arbitration if determined in, or pur - suant to, the arbitration agreement; (b) any place where a substantial part of the obli - gations of the commercial relationship is to be performed or the place where the subject mat - ter of the dispute is most closely connected; or
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