PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Ignatius Michael Ingles, The Law Firm of Ingles Laurel Calderon
as any information in which the identity of an individual is apparent or can be reasonably and directly ascertained by the entity holding the information, or when put together with other information would directly and certainly identify an individual. The DPA protects sensitive information to a greater and stricter extent. Sensitive personal information pertains to a person’s race, educa - tion, criminal record and religion, among others. Processing and sharing sensitive personal infor - mation requires prior consent at all times. This is an important consideration in collegiate sports, especially as student athletes must give their prior consent to the sharing of their transcript of records when they transfer from one school to another. The role of national courts in dealing with sports disputes varies depending on the type of sports dispute. In terms of field-of-play calls, the Supreme Court, in a 1995 case, set a policy of refusing to resolve field-of-play call disputes. Unless there is an arbitrary and brazen violation of sports rules by the sports officials and organ - isers, national courts will leave things as they are. For sports disputes involving the application of local laws within the sports context, parties may immediately seek redress in the national court system, unless there is a provision between the parties mandating recourse through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods or via the internal processes of a sports governing body. Examples of these sports disputes are those involving sports injuries and employment claims. 6. Dispute Resolution 6.1 National Court System
For sports disputes involving the interpretation of the rules of sports governing bodies (such as on eligibility matters and disciplinary issues), parties must generally exhaust the internal mechanisms of the sports governing body before national courts can be asked to rule on 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, imme - diate recourse to a local court may be possible. 6.2 ADR (Including Arbitration) The Philippines does not currently have any spe - cific mode of dispute resolution for sports. Par - ties who wish to use ADR may do so under the aegis of the Republic Act No 9285, which is the ADR Act of the Philippines. Private dispute reso - lution providers, such as the Philippine Dispute Resolution Centre, Inc, have drafted their own sports mediation and arbitration rules, which may be used by sports governing bodies if they choose. 6.3 Challenging Sports Governing Bodies 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 contract law principles and remedies as a basis). Parties who wish to challenge decisions of gov - erning bodies will have to exhaust the internal mechanisms first. This will generally involve requesting reconsideration of an assailed deci - sion and thereafter referring it to the international federation with jurisdiction over the local govern - ing body. If the decision is wantonly arbitrary and
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