Litigation 2018 Philippines

Litigation 2018 Philippines Nilo Divina, Estrella Elamparo and Camille Aromas DivinaLaw – Dynamic Lawyering (Makati) gar know-how Litigation 2018 – Philippines DivinaLaw – Dynamic Lawyering (Makati) Litigation 2018 Philippines Nilo Divina, Estrella Elamparo and Camille Aromas DivinaLaw – Dynamic Lawyering (Makati) Overview 3 General 1 Court system Give a brief overview of the political and social Describe the general organisation of the court system background as it relates to civil litigation. for civil litigation. Litigation is the primary mode of dispute resolution in the Philippines. The Philippine judicial system is organised according to the following According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, judges have an average hierarchy: annual workload of 644 cases. In 2015, the Supreme Court rolled out • Supreme Court; the piloting of a new system for speedy court trial in certain designated • Court of Appeals and Court of Tax Appeals (an institutionalised tax courts based on the proposed New Rules of Civil Procedure. Broadly, tribunal); the new rules centre on making court proceedings less adversarial by • Regional Trial Courts (RTCs); and requiring the parties to undergo two-stage mediation before actually • Municipal Trial Courts (MTCs), Metropolitan Trial Courts filing a case in court, and conducting face-to-face trials. (MeTCs) and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts (MCTCs). Activist plaintiffs are typically concerned with constitutional chal- lenges to legislative or executive measures. Civil cases generally originate in the RTCs, MTCs, MeTCs and MCTCs. The RTCs have limited appellate jurisdiction over all cases Jurisdiction decided by the MTCs, MeTCs and MCTCs within the RTCs’ territo- 4 Jurisdiction and venue rial jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals has appellate jurisdiction over all What are the criteria for determining the jurisdiction cases emanating from the RTCs. However, if only questions of law are and venue of the competent court for a civil matter? involved, the appeal must be made directly to the Supreme Court. The Venue is prescribed under the Rules of Court. Generally, for actions Supreme Court exercises appellate jurisdiction over the decisions of the affecting real property, the venue is where the real property is located. Court of Appeals and the Court of Tax Appeals. For personal actions involving the enforcement of some liability or The judiciary is independent and co-equal with the legislative and actions other than those involving real property, the venue is where the executive branches. Members of the Supreme Court and judges of plaintiff or any principal plaintiff resides, or where the defendant or lower courts are appointed by the President. any principal defendant resides, upon the election of the plaintiff. If the Courts of equal and coordinate jurisdiction cannot interfere defendant does not reside and is not found in the Philippines, the venue with each other’s orders and cannot review each other’s actions and is generally where the plaintiff resides, or where the property subject of decisions. the action is located. Venue may be waived and stipulated upon. There is no jury system in the Philippines. Jurisdiction is conferred by law. It cannot be the subject of agreement or waiver save in limited instances where estoppel applies. 2 The legal profession Exclusive original jurisdiction depends on the subject matter, and the Describe the general organisation of the legal nature or amount of the claim. profession. Any person who is duly admitted as a member of the Philippine Bar 5 Forum shopping and who is in good and regular standing is entitled to practise law. To Does your jurisdiction commonly attract disputes that be admitted to the bar, the applicant must be a Filipino citizen, at least have a nexus with other jurisdictions? 21 years of age, of good moral character, and residing in the Philippines. Increasing globalisation and the movement from nationalistic or purely He must have graduated from an accredited Philippine law school and domestic business models led to an increase in cross-border economic passed the Philippine Bar examination.There is no fused or split bar. activity and disputes in the country. Given the level of confidence that The Philippine Constitution prohibits foreign lawyers from engag- foreign counter parties have in national courts, and the legal landscape ing in the practice of law in the Philippines, and must be represented in general, international arbitration is emerging as the preferred mode by a member of the Philippine Bar in all matters connected with such of resolving disputes for transnational commercial transactions. Parallel practise. efforts are being adopted in the Philippines for judicial reform in general and the promotion of arbitration. 2 Last verified on Tuesday 3rd July 2018 DivinaLaw – Dynamic Lawyering (Makati) Litigation 2018 – Philippines 6 Pendency in another forum Procedure How will a court treat a request to hear a dispute that is 11 Commencement and conduct of proceedings in already pending before another forum? general Courts may refuse to treat a request to hear a dispute that is already How are proceedings commenced? To what extent pending before another forum in view of the policy against forum will a court actively lead the proceedings and to what shopping, ie, the act by a party of availing of several remedies in dif- extent will the court rely on the parties to further the ferent courts, simultaneously or successively, all substantially founded proceedings? on the same transactions and the same essential facts or circumstances, Proceedings in civil cases are generally commenced by the filing of and all raising substantially the same issues either pending or already a complaint or petition before the court that has jurisdiction over resolved adversely by some other court. A finding of forum shopping is the subject matter of the action. After the filing of the complaint, the a cause for the summary dismissal of the multiple petition or complaint. court shall issue a summons directing the other party to file an answer within 15 days. The plaintiff or claimant can then file a reply to address 7 Deference to arbitration any new issue raised in the answer. Thereafter, the plaintiff must file a How will the courts treat a dispute that is, or could be, motion to set the case for a mandatory pre-trial conference. When the subject to an arbitration clause or an agreement to conference terminates, the court shall issue a pretrial order that shall set arbitrate, including in interim proceedings? out the issues to be heard during trial, and limit the conduct of sub- Under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 2004, the court shall sequent proceedings. If no settlement is reached at this stage, trial will refer the parties to arbitration where it finds that the action brought ensue within 30 days from the issuance of the pretrial order. During before it relates to a matter that is the subject matter of an arbitration trial, the claimant must produce evidence in support of his or her com- agreement. plaint or petition, and the defendant must produce evidence in support of his defences, counterclaims and cross-claims. 8 Judicial review of arbitral awards on jurisdiction May courts in your country review arbitral awards on 12 Statement of claim jurisdiction? What are the requirements for filing a claim? What is An arbitral award is final and binding and thus a party is precluded from the pleading standard? filing an appeal or a petition for certiorari questioning the merits of an A claim is generally initiated by a complaint. The complaint must state arbitral award. However, the court may vacate or set aside an award ren- the ultimate facts constituting the plaintiff’s cause of action, including dered in a domestic arbitration on limited grounds that do not relate to the names and residences of the parties. It must be verified by the plain- the merits of the dispute, eg, corruption or misconduct on the part of tiff through an affidavit attesting to the correctness of the allegations set the arbitrator. Similarly, the court may set aside or refuse enforcement out in the complaint. It shall also contain a certification against forum of an award rendered in an international arbitration on grounds that shopping. are substantially similar to those set out in the New York Convention. Notably, the Philippines is a signatory to the Convention, which 13 Statement of defence entered into force in the country in 1962. What are the requirements for answering claims? What is the pleading standard? 9 Anti-suit injunctions In the answer to the complaint, the defendant shall specifically deny all Are anti-suit injunctions available? the allegations that he or she does not admit and set out the substance Anti-suit injunctions are an unfamiliar concept in the Philippines. of the matters on which he or she relies for his denial. Material aver- However, in view of the general tenets of an injunction in civil law, ments in the complaint not specifically denied shall be deemed admit- the court may grant an injunction to restrain the parties to continue ted, except as to the amount of unliquidated damages. The defendant proceedings in another jurisdiction or forum which have been com- shall also raise all the defences and counterclaims available to him or her menced in breach of an arbitration agreement. in the answer; otherwise, they are deemed waived. 10 Sovereign immunity 14 Further briefs and submissions Which entities are immune from being sued in What are the rules regarding further briefs and your jurisdiction? In what circumstances? In what submissions? circumstances can creditors enforce a court judgment Further briefs or submissions in a typical civil case may refer to replies or arbitral award against a sovereign or a state entity? and memoranda. Even if a party does not file a reply in response to State entities are generally immune from suit based on the premise the defendant’s answer, all the new matters alleged in the answer are that the state may not be sued without its consent.

Load more