PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Valeriano Del Rosario, Daphne Ruby Grasparil, Patrick Sarmiento and Maria Francesca Bautista, VeraLaw
VeraLaw is a Manila-based full-service law firm. The maritime and admiralty team consists of two partners, five assisting lawyers and two paralegals. They are shipping litigators who handle both civil and admiral - ty matters. A part of the team attends administrative proceedings for ships involved in pollution and en - vironmental damage claims, and collision investiga - tions, while the other specialises in maritime labour/ crew claim issues and proceedings. The team’s spe - cialised lawyers also handle instructions for matters that can be broadly described as maritime enterpris - es, such as formation of companies for ship and crew
management, vessel registration and deregistration, and processing of permits with the Maritime Indus - try Authority and the Department of Migrant Workers, which regulates the employment of seafarers over - seas. In February 2023, the MT “Princess Empress” oil spill occurred, and her club appointed VeraLaw, which deployed four lawyers. Subsequently, in 2024, the MT “Terranova” capsized, threatening to spill over 1.4 million litres of oil. VeraLaw capably handled the matter given its lawyers’ previous experience in oil spills.
Authors
Valeriano Del Rosario is managing partner of VeraLaw, and has extensive education and business experience in the USA and Europe. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1982. He obtained a master’s degree
Patrick Sarmiento is currently serving as a managing associate of VeraLaw. He is a proud member of VeraLaw’s esteemed and award-winning maritime and admiralty team, and has been recognised for his outstanding contributions. Maria Francesca Bautista is a managing associate and assistant to the managing director, Valeriano Del Rosario, who heads VeraLaw’s maritime and admiralty team. Maria is undertaking her LLM in Maritime Law
in Maritime Law from the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, and started his shipping career doing LOF salvage arbitration with Sinclair Roche and Temperley in the City of London. He remained with that firm for three years before returning to the Philippines to join his father’s firm, where he started his shipping practice in Manila. He is a shipping law specialist and has acted for the 4,000 victims of the MV “Doña Paz” sinking.
at the National University of Singapore. In addition to being part of the award-winning firm, Francesca has herself been personally recognised. She is also a key member of the firm’s insurance team. Outside her core specialisations, she continues to assist the firm’s partners in various corporate and special projects, complex arbitration cases and intellectual property matters.
Daphne Ruby Grasparil has been a partner at VeraLaw since 2013. She heads the firm’s maritime labour employment/crew claims team. Her work in this field spans 20 years, and includes rendering legal opinions and
merits case assessments to ship-owners, P&I clubs and manning companies relating to seafarers’ illness and injury claims, and defending those claims before the National Labour Relations, National Conciliation Mediation Board and appellate courts. She also provides legal advice and step-by-step guidance to manning companies on the termination process of seafarers to comply with due process requirements of Philippine laws.
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