Rogelio NICANDRO

Introduction

Rogelio “Roger” Nicandro is a senior partner and the head of the Intellectual Property Department of Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De los Angeles (formerly Ozaeta Gibbs Ozaeta), one of the oldest law firms in the country, which celebrated its centennial in 2002.

Nicandro started his law practice as a litigator, assisting his former professor, William R Veto, a commercial law authority, in handling most of the commercial law cases of Tañada Carreon & Tañada (formerly Tañada Pelaez & Teehankee) in the late sixties after obtaining his LLB degree in 1966 from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. He tried numerous banking, insurance, intellectual property and transportation cases, and a few criminal cases, in addition to preparing complex legal opinions for Tañada’s multinational clients.

Disturbed by the alarming increase in the cases of human rights violations during the Marcos regime, he joined the August Twenty-One Movement and was a founding member of Bonifacio, an alliance of lawyers from Makati law firms engaged in handling cases of human rights abuses, becoming its counsel general in 1985 to 1986. He was also lead counsel of the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL). He handled the accreditation of NAMFREL as the citizens’ arm of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for the snap presidential elections of 1986 before the Marcos-constituted COMELEC.

Due to his expertise in election matters, Nicandro was invited by his alma mater, the Ateneo, to teach election law. He was a professorial lecturer in that subject for eight years (from 1985 to 1992).

From 1987 up to 2011, Nicandro has been a legal consultant of the Asian Development Bank, being the head of its legal assistance service, which provides legal advice to all the bank’s employees, both professional and staff.

As a then associate in Romulo, he gradually shifted much of his practice focus on intellectual property, eventually becoming the chairman of its IP department, which position he holds up to now. As an IP lawyer, he won landmark cases for the firm’s clients, including Pagasa v YKK, 118 SCRA 526; 131 SCRA 565 and Shangri-la International Hotel Management, Ltd et al v Developers Group of Companies, Inc 486 SCRA 405.

He is the former president of the Licensing Executives Society of the Philippines, the national group of Licensing Executives Society International, and the former director and vice president of the Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines. He is an active member of international IP organisations such as the International Trademark Association, the Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Industrielle. He was also the past president (1997) of the Legal Management Council of the Philippines.

As a long-time litigator, he laments the long, tedious and expensive process of trying cases. This stoked his interest in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), which is an ideal vehicle to terminate disputes with more dispatch and less expense. Thus, he became active in ADR affairs, eventually becoming the president of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Centre (PDRC). Roger has acted as counsel in mediation and arbitration cases for Romulo clients both here and abroad and has chaired or been a member of arbitration panels in PDRC cases.

Nicandro continues to be a director or officer of various corporations. Among others, he is the chairman of the board of Antel Platinum Tower Condominium Association, Inc, the director and corporate secretary of Papertech, Inc and Verdant Industries, Inc, and the director of Automated Technology Inc.

He is active in civic groups, being a Jaycee senator and former general legal counsel of the Philippine Jaycees. He is also a past president of the Rotary Club of Makati North.

In his spare time, Nicandro loves to read and to play classical and jazz piano. He is an avid audiophile and videophile and has a large collection of vinyl records, CDs and DVDs. A natural athlete, he was an NCAA senior varsity soccer player of San Beda College during his college days, although his sporting activities are now limited to an occasional round of golf at his home course, the Canlubang Golf and Country Club.