Based on research conducted by Asia Business Law Journal, the following are the Philippines’s top 100 lawyers.
Click here to read the editorial report that accompanies the A-List.
Biographies and contact details, where provided, were written by the lawyers themselves and have not been independently verified.
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Cornelio Abuda Abuda Asis & Associates |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance,Inbound investment,Infrastructure,Power & energy,Project finance | |
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Franchette Acosta Villaraza & Angangco |
| Key practice areas: Corporate law; M&A; foreign investments; government contracts; securities regulation | |
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Raoul R Angangco Villaraza & Angangco |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial,Infrastructure,Joint ventures,Mergers & acquisitions,Real estate | |
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Enrico Astudillo EB Astudillo & Associates |
| Tel: +63 2 8816 2915 Email: eba@astudillolaw.com Key practice areas: General commercial litigation; patent and trademark prosecution; copyright protection; enforcement of intellectual property rights; license negotiation |
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| Enrico B Astudillo had extensive practice in all aspects of commercial law in the Philippines before he specialised in the practice of IP law in 1984. He is an experienced commercial litigation attorney. His practice encompasses all aspects of commercial relationships and transactions.
Astudillo represents major multinational corporations in a variety of industries in opposition, cancellation, infringement, unfair competition and counterfeiting cases before the courts and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). He routinely advises clients on infringement and validity issues. He has vast experience in all phases of patent and trademark prosecution, including the preparation of clearance and availability opinions, as well as appeals within the IPO and before the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Astudillo represents major multinational clients in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, automotive and chemical industries in patent and trademark prosecution and the enforcement of their rights in the Philippines. He has guided a major pharmaceutical client on the significant ramifications on pharmaceutical patent rights of the landmark Cheaper Medicines Act in the Philippines. Astudillo regularly attends international conventions to keep abreast of developments in IP. He is a member of the American Bar Association and its IP law and international law sections. He is also an active member of the International Trademark Association, the Pharmaceutical Trademarks Group, the Licensing Executives Society International, the Association Internationale Pour La Protection de la Propriete Industrielle, and the Asian Patent Attorneys Association. Astudillo earned his bachelor of arts degree in 1974 and bachelor of laws (LLB) degree in 1980 both from the University of the Philippines. He placed 20th in the Bar Examinations of 1980. He attended law school in the evening while working full-time for Procter & Gamble Philippines during the day. |
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Carlos Baniqued Baniqued & Bello |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; taxation | |
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Mario Luza Bautista Poblador Bautista & Reyes |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate & commercial; insurance & reinsurance; labour & employment; litigation | |
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Ramil Bugayong PJS Law |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance,Capital markets,Corporate & commercial,Infrastructure,Mergers & acquisitions | |
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Patricia Bunye Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia |
| Tel: +632 8810 5858 Email: po.bunye@cruzmarcelo.com Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial, Intellectual property, Licensing & franchising, Power & energy, Other (please specify) – Mining and natural resources |
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| Patricia Bunye heads Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia’s mining, natural resources department and energy practice group, and is also a partner in its IP department. Her IP practice is focused on trademarks and IP commercialisation, including licensing and franchising, and regulatory issues with the Food and Drug Administration.
She was the president of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI), a worldwide professional organisation advancing the business of IP globally, from 2016-2017, and was the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to hold this position. In 2020, she received the LESI’s Award of Achievement, which is conferred on the LESI members who have made lasting contributions to LESI and the licensing profession. She has spoken in many countries and written in many publications on IP licensing in the Philippines, including the Philippines chapter of International Licensing and Technology Transfer: Practice and the Law. She is a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors and the chairman of the Governance Committee of the Makati Business Club. |
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Danny Bunyi DivinaLaw |
| Tel: +632 8822 0808 Email: danny.bunyi@divinalaw.com Key practice areas: Banking & finance, E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos, Mergers & acquisitions, Other (please specify) – Corporate Governance & Housekeeping, Cross-border loans |
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| Danny E Bunyi is a senior partner at DivinaLaw with more than 30 years of legal experience in a wide range of areas including corporate law, banking and finance, M&As, cross-border transactions, as well as commercial contract drafting and review.
Prior to joining DivinaLaw, Danny was senior vice president and corporate secretary for the Development Bank of the Philippines, one of the largest government-owned banks in the country. He is a lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University John Gokongwei School of Management where he teaches corporation and partnerships law. He also teaches the history and administration of trusts, donations, wills and succession at the Trust Institute Foundation of the Philippines. He obtained his bachelor of science in business management majoring in legal management degree and a bachelor of laws degree from Ateneo de Manila University. His work in servicing the firm’s clients has led to multiple awards in banking and finance, corporate and commercial law, private equity and venture capital. He was recognised as a commended external counsel of the year in 2019 and 2021 by In-House Community. He was honoured as one of the Philippines client choice lawyers by Asian Legal Business for 2021 and 2022. He was also named among Asia Business Law Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in the Philippines in 2021. |
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Maria Raquel Chavez PJS Law |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance,Capital markets,Corporate & commercial,Mergers & acquisitions,Power & energy | |
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Kenneth Chua Quisumbing Torres |
| Key practice areas: Employment & compensation; employment aspects of M&A; managing business change & disruption; pensions; employment litigation | |
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Avelino Cruz ACCRALAW |
| Key practice areas: Administrative law & regulatory practice; appellate practice; corporate; energy; international law; investment; M&A | |
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Avelino Cruz Jr Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia |
| Tel: +632 8810 5858 Email: aj.cruz@cruzmarcelo.com Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial, Infrastructure, Other (please specify) – Commercial Litigation, Administrative Law |
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| Avelino Cruz Jr is a senior partner specializing in commercial litigation, corporate and commercial law, infrastructure projects, and administrative law. He previously served as secretary of the Department of National Defence, where he brought a fresh civilian perspective to address the challenges faced by our country’s defence and military establishments. He was widely credited for introducing fundamental, comprehensive, and institution-wide reforms through the Philippine Defence Reform program. His unblemished stint in public service and record of success in the defence department have become benchmarks upon which others who followed have been measured. Some of the groundbreaking reform initiatives started by his leadership have become the foundation of wide-ranging public sector reforms currently being undertaken.
He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1991 and was a bar examiner in commercial law in the 1995 Philippine Bar Examinations. Cruz served as president of the Philippine Bar Association. He is also a member of prestigious international lawyers’ organisations, such as the Asean Law Association, International Bar Association, Inter-Pacific Bar Association, and the New York State Bar Association. In 2003, he was conferred a doctor of laws degree honoris causa by the Baguio Colleges Foundation. Cruz graduated cum laude and salutatorian from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1977 and placed 7th in the bar examinations. As a student leader during martial law, he served as president of the University of the Philippines Law Student Government and the Student Council of the Ateneo de Manila University, where he earned his bachelor of science degree in mathematics. |
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Emerico De Guzman ACCRALAW |
| Key practice areas: Appellate practice; business process outsourcing; labour and employment; white-collar crime | |
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Hector De Leon Jr SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: Corporate/M&A; projects, infrastructure and energy; finance; tax | |
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Gabriel Dee Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos |
| Key practice areas: Capital markets; M&A; banking; corporate law; taxation | |
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Cynthia Del Castillo Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles |
| Key practice areas: Capital markets,Corporate & commercial,Joint ventures,Mergers & acquisitions,Private equity, venture capital & funds | |
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Ruben Del Rosario Del Rosario & Del Rosario |
| Tel: +632 8810 1791/5317 7888 Email: ruben.delrosario@delrosariolaw.com Key practice areas: Shipping & maritime; labour & employment; insurance & reinsurance; dispute resolution & arbitration; transportation & logistics |
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| Ruben Del Rosario has extensive experience in maritime litigation, including dry and wet work, personal injury, labour, insurance, multimodal transport and arbitration. He is managing partner of Del Rosario & Del Rosario, which has won yearly accolades as the best maritime law firm in the Philippines. The firm and its affiliate, Del Rosario Pandiphil, represents practically all of the protection and indemnity clubs, marine insurers and all types of shipping companies. The firm has handled most of the major maritime casualties in the Philippines and abroad when Filipino seafarers are involved. Ruben has been called upon to give expert testimony in a number of cases abroad involving Filipino crew.
Ruben was a member of the tripartite committee that drafted the original 2000 Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Overseas Employment Contract. His immensely popular “Primer on the POEA Standard Employment Contract” has been updated and reprinted twelve times from 2000 to 2018. His “Philippine Shipping Update”, which has a readership of almost 3,000, has been published regularly from 1999 to the present. For almost 20 years, this newsletter has updated the shipping industry on all significant maritime developments. He is also a long-time member of the board of editors of the prestigious Maritime Risk International. Ruben has long been recognised as a leading authority in maritime and admiralty law. He has been consistently named in Asia Business Law Journal’s top 100 lawyers in the Philippines and other various legal organisations. He is an accredited maritime arbitrator and founded the Philippine Maritime Voluntary Arbitrators Association. He has been president of various maritime, legal and civic organisations. He has lectured on maritime issues at various international conferences in the Philippines and abroad. Ruben has a law degree from the Ateneo de Manila University and a master in business administration from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, US. He has a bachelor’s degree in social science and finance from De La Salle University. He has attended various shipping courses, including those at the University of Southampton, UK. |
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Arturo Del Rosario Jr Del Rosario & Del Rosario |
| Tel: +632 8810 1791 loc 849 Email: arturo.delrosario@delrosariolaw.com Key practice areas: IP; shipping & admiralty; labour & employment |
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| Arturo T Del Rosario Jr, (nickname Johnny), was admitted to the practice of law in 1975. He has been the managing partner of Del Rosario & Del Rosario Law Office since its inception in 1977. He is heavily involved in general maritime litigation arising from marine casualties, crew claims, collisions, cargo claims, dock damage, oil pollution, and arrests. He has handled high-profile matters in intellectual property practice covering trademark applications and disputes.
Education: San Beda College (Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing, cum laude, 1970); University of the Philippines (LLB, 1974); 1976 Richards Hogg International Seminar, London; University of Southampton, England (Maritime Law Course 1987). Professional: President (2015-17) IPAP, led the Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines composed of top IP practitioners in various IP conventions locally and abroad; President (2008), Philippine Bar Association (PBA), the largest and longest running voluntary association of lawyers in the Philippines; President (1996-97) and Chairman (1997-98), Maritime Law Association of the Philippines (MARLAW); Certified Court of Appeals Mediator; Named as one of the Top 100 Lawyers of the Philippines in 2018 – 2021; Awardee of The Philippine Cancer Society’s 2016 Exemplary Men of Influence. Membership: Council Member, Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA); International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (AIPPI); Director, Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines (IPAP); Member, Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) on International Law and Maritime Law Department. |
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Enrique Dela Cruz Jr DivinaLaw |
| Tel: +632 822 0808 Email: enrique.delacruz@divinalaw.com Key practice areas: Civil, criminal & commercial litigation; election laws; local government &taxation; government contracts & regulations; international commercial arbitration |
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| Enrique V Dela Cruz Jr is a senior partner and data protection officer at DivinaLaw. He is also the head of the firm’s arbitration, data privacy, IP and fintech groups. He has more than 20 years of experience in litigation, arbitration, public-private partnership contracts, and election law practice. He is a member of the London Court of International Arbitration-Asia Users Council, the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and is an accredited construction arbitrator of the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission.
He graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a degree in AB legal management (cum laude) in 1996, and a bachelor of laws (with honours) in 2000. In 2001 he earned a master in public management from the Ateneo School of Government in Manila. In 2002, he completed an executive program on leadership and public policy at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In May 2005, he obtained his master of laws in international and comparative business law (with distinction) from the London Metropolitan University as a Chevening Scholar. He also completed a Single Masters Course in international trade from the University College London. In March 2020, he was awarded a fintech certification by Harvard University. Currently, he teaches law at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, and the Bulacan State University – College of Law. He is also a lecturer at the University of the Philippines (UP) Centre for Local and Regional Governance. He is also a lecturer at the Bar Review Institute of the UP Law Centre and a member of its committee of experts in political law. He was a municipal councillor of Baliwag, Bulacan from 2019 to 2022 and was a board member of the province of Bulacan from 2010 to 2019. He was formerly president of the National Movement of Young Legislators of the Philippines and national treasurer of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines. He has been named among Asia Business Law Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in the Philippines since 2020. He is also among the Philippines Client Choice Lawyers of Asian Legal Business for 2022. |
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Ronald Dime Dime & Eviota |
| Tel: +632 727 6556 Email: ronalddime@dldtelaw.com Key practice areas: Energy environmental law; transportation & infrastructure; commercial law; litigation & disputes |
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| Ronald Dime believes that his mission as managing partner of Dime & Eviota is simple: to bring lawyering back to a deeply personal conversation between the client and the lawyer. His lean organisation is tailormade for this purpose and each lawyer is committed to the philosophy.
Client and partner testimony reveal that Ron’s unique approach works to deliver not only consistently excellent work throughout the process but genuinely meaningful results. The firm is not a “do everything” firm but it prides itself on doing what it does (ie, energy, infrastructure, transportation, disputes and commercial transactions) very well. Ron is a product of the College of Law of the University of the Philippines, the country’s flagship law school. He was elected class president for four years, graduated among the top percentile of his class in 1996, and was an editor of the prestigious UP Law Journal. Afterwards, he litigated a range of high-profile cases at one of the older law offices. He left sometime in 2002 but not before receiving what he considers a fantastic compliment from opposing counsel. The lawyer who had taken over the case after Ron’s resignation had overheard the opponent consoling his witness with the information that it would no longer be Ron Dime that was going to conduct cross examination. Several years later, he formed Dime & Eviota. He has co-developed clean power projects, helped build roads, schools and airports, brought water to towns and constantly strives to innovate in terms of legal solutions. He also continues to fight for the meek, taking on public interest cases pro bono. Ron teaches environmental law in a local law school and coaches the debate team. He has also recently co-founded the Energy Lawyers Association of the Philippines. Ron is happily married and completely in love with his wife of 16 years–a corporate superstar in her own right. He has two daughters who have him wrapped around their fingers. He also likes to travel, box, play tennis and sing show tunes in private. He is currently teaching himself French and Japanese. |
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JJ Disini Disini & Disini |
| Key practice areas: Data protection,E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos,Inbound investment,Mergers & acquisitions,Technology, media and telecommunications | |
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Nilo Divina DivinaLaw |
| Tel: +632 8822 0808 Email: nilo.divina@divinalaw.com Key practice areas: Corporate, criminal, and civil litigation; ADR; estates and trusts; immigration; labour and employment |
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| Nilo Divina is a seasoned corporate and banking lawyer with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. He established DivinaLaw in 2006 and has led the aggressive growth of the firm in a short span of time, making it one of the biggest law firms in the country today. Before he entered private law practice, he was the former executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of one of the former leading banks in the Philippines. He also served as the general manager, executive adviser to the board, and corporate secretary of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Nilo is the personal lawyer of some of the country’s prominent personalities in finance and business. He is equally active with his roles in the academe, serving as the dean of the Faculty of Civil Law of the University of Santo Tomas since 2009 and teaching at the University of the Philippines College of Law. He is likewise recognised as one of the top experts in commercial law and is a sought-after bar reviewer and legal consultant. He has authored six books on commercial law that are considered primary resource material for law students and lawyers alike. He holds a post-graduate diploma in international tax law from the Robert Kennedy College in Switzerland. He obtained his bachelor of law from the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law, where he graduated magna cum laude and class valedictorian. He has a bachelor of arts in behavioral science from the University of Santo Tomas, where he graduated cum laude. |
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Benedicta Du-Baladad Du-Baladad and Associates |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance,Compliance,Corporate & commercial,Inbound investment,Taxation | |
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Leslie Dy SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial,Data protection,Labour & employment,Litigation,Taxation | |
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Estrella Elamparo DivinaLaw |
| Tel: +632 8822 0808 Email: estrella.elamparo@divinalaw.com Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR, Competition & antitrust, Defence, Litigation, Technology, media and telecommunications |
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| Estrella C Elamparo is a seasoned litigator with more than 25 years of experience in various areas of litigation and has handled many high-profile cases. In the early years of her practice, she was appointed public prosecutor in the City of Manila and became a state prosecutor with the Department of Justice.
She had worked in various law firms and was appointed general counsel of the biggest government financial institution in the country, the Government Service Insurance System in 2006, during what many believed was a tumultuous time for the government agency. It was there where she further honed her public relations and crisis management skills, aided by her journalism and communications background. At DivinaLaw, she heads the firm’s commercial and criminal litigation practice and established the firm’s crisis management practice and communications department. She also pioneered the firm’s legal education and policy advocacy practice in recognition of the fact that many of the clients’ problems cannot just be addressed by litigation but sometimes call for a change in legislation or government regulation. Given her background, she is often designated as a spokesperson by the firm’s clients. Elamparo secured her journalism and law degrees from the University of the Philippines and master’s degree in healthcare ethics and law from the University of Manchester, through a Chevening Scholarship. She has reaped several awards, foremost of which is the very first Woman Lawyer of the Year (2017) of the Asian Legal Business Southeast Asia Law Awards. She has been named among Asia Business Law Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in the Philippines since 2020. |
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Ramon Esguerra Esguerra & Blanco |
| Tel: +632 8840 3413 to 15 Email: mon.esguerra@bleslaw.com Key practice areas: Anti-corruption & anti-bribery, Arbitration & ADR, Intellectual property, Labour & employment, Litigation |
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| Ramon Esguerra has led Esguerra & Blanco since he co-founded the firm in 2004. He has received numerous accolades for his expertise in litigation, criminal law and IP law. According to clients, Esguerra is outstanding at providing pragmatic solutions and is always customer-focused, without sacrificing integrity and soundness of legal advice and opinions.
Esguerra served as undersecretary of the Department of Justice from 1992 to 1995. He is a professor of criminal law, remedial law and IP in various law schools in the Philippines and has been invited to lecture on these subjects in various bar review centres and Mandatory Continuing Legal Education programmes. He was also a member of committees formed by the Supreme Court to revise various rules of procedure, such as the “2019 Proposed Amendments to the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure” and “2020 Revised Rules of Procedure for Intellectual Property Cases.” He actively supports the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and other professional associations as officer, adviser and/or director, including the Licensing Executives Society of the Philippines and the Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines. He is likewise a trained arbitrator of the Philippine Dispute Resolution. |
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Mila Federis Federis & Associates |
| Tel: +632 889 6197 Email: mfederis@federislaw.com.ph Key practice areas: IP prosecution; IP litigation; IP enforcement; licensing; franchising |
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| Mila Federis is co-founder and managing partner of Federis & Associates, a boutique IP firm in the Philippines. The firm has been the top trademark filer in the Philippines in the past 12 years. Federis leads the firm’s very active litigation team, winning notable cases for Philips, Yahoo!, Bridgestone, Chanel, Philip Morris, among others.
Federis works with clients from various industries, including pharmaceuticals, hotels, electronics, telecommunications, and IT. She counsels clients in trademark portfolio management and strategy, among others. Federis has received numerous awards. She has made the list of Top 100 Lawyers in the Philippines since 2018, Who’s Who Legal Trademark and Patents since 2017, IP Stars since 2017, and World’s Leading Lawyer in 2018. Federis is active in organisations like INTA, APAA, AIPLA, AIPPI, IPO, ECTA, MARQUES, and AIPA. She is a frequent lecturer in IP seminars in various countries and a regular contributor in INTA publications. |
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Alex Erlito Fider Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos |
| Key practice areas: M&A; banking & finance; privatizations; infrastructure & utilities; telecommunications & mass media | |
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Alex Ferdinand Fider ACCRALAW |
| Key practice areas: IP; licensing & franchising | |
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Estrelita Gacutan Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate & commercial; M&A; power & energy; TMT | |
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Kristjan Vicente Gargantiel Gargantiel Ilagan & Atanante |
| Tel: +632 8355 9623 Email: kvtgargantiel@gialawfirm.com Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; defence; labour & employment; litigation; real estate |
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| Kristjan Vicente Gargantiel joins the A-List for the third consecutive year. He is from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Civil Law and is a founding partner of Gargantiel Ilagan & Atanante (GIA Law). He is the legal counsel of a leading publishing corporation in the country and serves as lead counsel in numerous high-profile and complex cases.
He is an excellent litigator who stands out in the courtroom. He has proven that a calm and patient approach is an effective way to win arguments. He is respected not only by his clients but also by his opposing counsels. Kris is also a renowned and dedicated academician. He lectures on criminal law in the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education for Lawyers and the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Law, and public corporations, administrative law, public officers, and election law at the UST Faculty of Civil Law. He is an active resource person in law-oriented webinars on social media and programs on national television. He pays it forward as a volunteer legal aid lawyer of the Integrated Bar of The Philippines Quezon City Chapter. |
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Jaime Renato Gatmaytan Gatmaytan Yap Patacsil Gutierrez & Protacio |
| Key practice areas: Energy; real estate & construction; banking & finance; corporate; M&A | |
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Mia Gentugaya SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: Aviation; banking & finance | |
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Alden Francis Gonzales DivinaLaw |
| Tel: +632 8822 0808 Email: alden.gonzales@divinalaw.com Key practice areas: Civil & commercial litigation; arbitration; taxation; labour & employment; collective bargaining agreement negotiations |
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| A senior partner with three decades of legal experience, Alden Francis C Gonzales is co-head DivinaLaw’s litigation group and also head of the firm’s labour group. In 1986, he worked with SyCip Gorrez Velayo and Co as an auditor, later returning in 1991 to practice law in the tax division of the firm. Since then, he has represented many clients from various sectors of society before all levels of the Philippine Court system.
Armed with extensive knowledge of legal practice and strengthened by his background as a certified public accountant, Alden proves to be a distinct and versatile name in the field. He has also extended his knowledge of law to the academe for nearly as long as he has practised, working as a professor of civil law in his alma mater, the University of Santo Tomas, where he graduated magna cum laude. He has also been a bar reviewer at the university from 2007 to the present. He has consistently been named among the Top 100 Lawyers in the Philippines by the Asia Business Law Journal since 2018. |
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Mark Gorriceta Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra |
| Tel: +632 8696 0687/0988 Email: msgorriceta@gorricetalaw.com Key practice areas: Banking & finance,Capital markets,E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos,Mergers & acquisitions,Technology, media and telecommunications |
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| Mark S Gorriceta is the managing partner and head of the corporate group and head of the technology media and telecommunications group of Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra. With more than 19 years in private practice, Mark has developed extensive expertise in complex corporate transactions, commercial contracts and regulatory matters in a range of areas that impact businesses – whether for startups or for Top 1000 companies in the Philippines. He is a leading lawyer in the Philippines in capital markets, M&A and securities law.
Mark has been recognized as one of the Philippines’ Top 100 Lawyers for 2020, 2021 and 2022 by Asia Business Law Journal. He was also recognised by Asian Legal Business (ALB) as one of the top TMT lawyers in Asia and ranked #1 in the Philippines in the tech and fintech space. With pioneering expertise in the law on digital assets, fintech, blockchain, virtual currencies, e-commerce, data privacy, and artificial intelligence, he is legal counsel to the biggest and most impactful technology and online companies in the Philippines. He was also awarded as the Philippines’ Managing Partner of the Year for 2020 during the Philippine Law Awards of ALB, named as one of the Dealmakers of Asia for 2021 and among the Top 10 Philippines’ Clients Choice Lawyers for 2021 and 2022 by ALB. Under his leadership, the firm has been awarded for three consecutive years (2019, 2020 and 2021) technology media and telecommunications law firm of the year and 2019 and 2021 innovative technologies law firm of the year in ALB’s Philippine Law Awards. The firm was also voted for three consecutive years (2019, 2020 and 2021) the best technology media and telecommunications law firm of the year by Asia Business Law Journal in its Philippine Law Firm Awards. The firm was also awarded the construction and real estate law firm of the year (2020), Philippine deal firm of the year (2021), equity deal of the year-midsize (2021), data privacy & protection law firm of the year (2021) by ALB in its Philippine Law Awards. In 2017 and 2018, Mark was named one of Asia’s Top 40 lawyers under 40 by ALB. In 2018 and 2019, he was also named as one of Asia’s Who’s Who Lawyers by ALB. Mark is a faculty member of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Centre for Continuing Education. He teaches M&A for the advanced module diploma course in corporate finance. |
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Lily Gruba Zambrano Gruba Caganda & Advincula |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate & commercial; joint ventures; M&A; taxation | |
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Aris Gulapa Gulapa Law |
| Key practice areas: Construction; real estate; corporate; M&A | |
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Judy Hao ACCRALAW |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance,Capital markets,Inbound investment,Joint ventures,Mergers & acquisitions | |
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Editha Hechanova Hechanova Group |
| Tel: +632 8812 6561 Email: editharh@hechanova.com.ph Key practice areas: IP; IP litigation; licensing; border control & corporate; employment law |
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| Editha Hechanova leads the Hechanova Group’s IP law practice. The Hechanova Group is made up of Hechanova & Co, an IP consulting firm handling trademark and patent prosecution, copyright and domain name registrations, product registration, management, valuation, searches, and other non-contentious aspects of IP, where she is president and CEO. The contentious IP practice is handled by the other member firm, Hechanova Bugay Vilchez & Andaya-Racadio, which specialises in enforcement, litigation, alternative dispute resolution, licensing, corporate, immigration law and taxation.
Editha graduated from the University of the East in Manila with a business degree, majoring in accounting, magna cum laude. She is a certified public accountant. She obtained her law degree from the Ateneo de Manila University and a certificate in strategic business economics from the University of Asia and the Pacific in Manila. Editha is an accredited mediator of the court of appeals and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), and an arbitrator. She is currently the president of the Association of Patent Agent Qualifying Examination Professionals, consisting of certified patent agents. She is also the vice-president of the IP Collegium, an organisation of IP experts mainly in Asean, India and Brazil, sponsored by the Japan Institute for Promoting Invention and Innovation. She has been cited as a leading lawyer in IP law in the Philippines by AsiaLaw Magazine, from 2002 to 2022, Who’s Who Legal Trademarks from 2012 to 2022, and Managing IP’s IP Star. She has been cited by Asia Business Law Journal as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in the Philippines from 2018-2021. During the 25th year anniversary of the IP Code, the IPOPHL awarded Hechanova & Co as top patent filer for the years 2017-2021, and top industrial design filer for 2017-2021. The Hechanova Group has been recognised as the Philippines Patent Firm of the Year at the 2021 Asia IP Awards. Asia Business Law Journal gave two Philippine Law Firm Awards to the Hechanova Group in 2021 in the categories of IP enforcement, and IP protection. In 2019, it was awarded the Philippines Copyright Firm of the Year, and in 2017, the Philippines Trademark Firm of the Year. |
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Rowell Ilagan Gargantiel Ilagan & Atanante |
| Tel: +632 8355 9623 Email: rdilagan@gialawfirm.com Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR,Corporate & commercial,Intellectual property,Labour & employment,Litigation |
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| Rowell Ilagan is a trailblazing litigator who continues to rise above the ranks since he started practicing law in 2011. He was conferred cum laude in De La Salle University in Manila during his baccalaureate degree, and honoured as salutatorian in San Beda University College of Law while being one of the youngest in his batch. Now, despite being the managing partner of his law firm, Gargantiel Ilagan and Atanante Law Office, he also gives back by mentoring law students in his alma mater as a law professor and pre-bar review lecturer.
He has appeared in various senate committees and investigations, and has been interviewed in mass media on the numerous high-profile and complex cases he represented. He has a wide area of practice and expertise, and has an excellent win rate, esteemed by clients and colleagues in the profession. He also holds top management and trust positions in several companies in the Philippines where he is sought after for his law and organisation management expertise, as well as his innovative and vibrant energy. At present, he is a director of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Quezon City and deputy director of the Commission on Bar Discipline. |
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Regina Jacinto-Barrientos PJS Law |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial,Corporate governance,Mergers & acquisitions,Power & energy,Project finance | |
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Rose Marie King-Dominguez SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: M&A; TMT; data privacy; investments, general corporate & business law; consumer law | |
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Victor Lazatin ACCRALAW |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & mediation; construction; litigation; mining; telecommunications | |
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Francisco Ed Lim ACCRALAW |
| Key practice areas: Antitrust & trade regulation; bankruptcy; insolvency & corporate rehabilitation; litigation; securities & capital markets | |
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Emmanuel Lombos SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: Dispute resolution; product liability | |
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Carlos Roberto Lopez SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: Dispute resolution; commercial arbitration; mining; patent infringement; competition | |
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Mel Macaraig Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose |
| Key practice areas: Corporate law; project finance; foreign investments; M&A; banking & finance | |
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Maria Christina Macasaet-Acaban Quisumbing Torres |
| Tel: +63 2 8819 4947 Email: christina.macasaet-acaban@quisumbingtorres.com Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust; corporate & commercial; corporate governance; M&A; healthcare & life sciences |
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| Maria Christina Macasaet-Acaban is a partner and a member of the management committee of Quisumbing Torres, a member firm of Baker & McKenzie International. Christina heads the corporate and commercial/M&A practice group, the competition focus group, and the healthcare and life sciences industry group in Quisumbing Torres.
She is also a member of the technology, media and telecommunications industry group. She is a member of Baker & McKenzie International’s Asia Pacific healthcare and life sciences steering committee and the Asia Pacific M&A steering committee. She has 23 years of experience advising and representing multinational corporations on domestic and cross-border transactions. Christina is cited as a leading individual in corporate and M&A by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2019-2022, a distinguished practitioner for corporate and M&A by Asialaw Leading Lawyers 2020-2022, and a highly regarded lawyer in corporate and M&A by the IFLR1000-Financial and Corporate Guide 2019-2021. She has been recognised as a future leader for competition by Who’s Who Legal: Competition in 2020-2021. Christina is among Asia Business Law Journal’s “A-List” of the Top 100 lawyers in the Philippines 2021. She is a leading individual (band 3) in corporate and M&A by Chambers Asia Pacific and Global 2022. Christina’s practice focuses on M&A, foreign investments and structuring, antitrust and competition, and corporate reorganisations and restructuring for a range of industries including pharmaceuticals and healthcare, technology, media and telecommunications, real estate, consumer goods and retail, and manufacturing. She participates in fora discussing women in the legal profession. As one of the youngest principals in the firm and the only female principal, while also being a proud mother to two teenagers, she serves as a role model for gender empowerment and for women to showcase their leadership, expertise, diligence and focus in the legal profession. |
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Cesar Manalaysay Siguion Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR,Litigation,Restructuring & insolvency | |
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Manuel Manaligod Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia |
| Tel: +632 8810 5858 Email: ml.manaligod@cruzmarcelo.com Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial,Inbound investment,Infrastructure,Project finance,Other (please specify) – Transport and Utilities, Strategic & Developmental Projects, Property Development |
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| Manuel Manaligod Jr has been in the practice of law for nearly three decades. He is the current chairman of Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia. He formerly headed the corporate and commercial law department, where he remains a member continuing his involvement in infrastructure and public and public utility projects undertaken or proposed to be implemented through public-private partnerships and similar arrangements. His practice includes work in the water, transportation, information and communications technology, and power and energy sectors. He acts as counsel and advisor to private local and foreign clients, consultant to a multilateral organisation, and is presently engaged as a transaction advisor to government projects.
He earned his bachelor of laws degree in 1991 from the University of the Philippines College of Law, and his master of laws degree (graduated with merit) in 1997 from the London School of Economics and Political Science, as a Chevening Scholar. |
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Manolito Manalo Ocampo & Manalo |
| Tel: +632 7751 8889 Email: info@omlawphil.com Key practice areas: Aviation; corporate & commercial; infrastructure; litigation; TMT |
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| Manolito Manalo is the managing partner of Ocampo Manalo Valdez & Lim and oversees the firm’s labour and commercial litigation practice. He also represents various corporate clients before regulatory and quasi-judicial bodies.
For several years now, Manalo has consistently been described as a leading individual and market leader in the practice areas of dispute resolution, aviation, and real estate by respected publications such as the Legal 500, Asia Law & Practice, Expert Guides, Asia Business Law Journal, and Global Law Experts, among others. He is an active member of various professional associations such as the Philippine Bar Association, LAWASIA and the International Bar Association. He is also the firm’s representative before the Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA) and the International Federation of AirLine Pilots Associations (IFALPA) and the AirLine Pilots Association (ALPA) of the US. Aside from his reputable legal career, Manalo is a well-respected name in the business community. He concurrently serves as the chairman and CEO of publicly-listed Prime Media Holdings, director of Kajima Philippines, and independent director of Teleport Commerce Philippines. He also acts in various corporate capacities for Turkish Airlines, Air Asia, Air Seoul, PCCW of Hong Kong, Chailease Finance of Taiwan, and Hong Kong Airlines to name a few. Manalo also serves as the Asia-Pacific managing director of WGI Global, a US-based foundation with the goal of promoting English language literacy and an adviser of the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry’s “Go Negosyo Mentorship Program” for young entrepreneurs. Manalo is a product of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, having earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science and a bachelor of laws degree from the same university in the years 1992 and 1995, respectively. |
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Arlene Maneja SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: Competition & antitrust,Infrastructure,Mergers & acquisitions,Power & energy,Technology, media and telecommunications | |
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Simeon Marcelo Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia |
| Tel: +632 8810 5858 Email: sv.marcelo@cruzmarcelo.com Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR,Banking & finance,Corporate & commercial,Litigation,Taxation |
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| Simeon Marcelo graduated in 1979, among the top of his law class at the University of the Philippines and placed no. 5 in the bar examinations. He later distinguished himself as a top-notch litigator. He caught national public attention during the nationally televised 2000 impeachment proceedings against then-President Estrada, having been selected to present the prosecution’s star witness.
In February 2001, he was appointed as solicitor general. Marcelo was appointed in 2002 as the Ombudsman, the youngest head of the country’s anti-corruption body. He led the prosecution team that secured the historical plunder charge conviction of a former president. Having returned to private practice in 2008, his services were immediately engaged by several big corporations, including the Central Bank to handle the biggest bank fraud case in the country’s history. Currently, he serves as legal counsel in high-profile cases in various courts, including the Supreme Court. |
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Bienvenido Marquez III Quisumbing Torres |
| Tel: +63 2 8819 4936 Email: bienvenido.marquez@quisumbingtorres.com Key practice areas: IP; data privacy; information security; IT; telecommunications; e-commerce |
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| Bienvenido A Marquez III is a partner and head of Quisumbing Torres’ IP, data and technology practice group. He also co-heads the consumer goods and retail industry group. He is immediate past president of the Philippine Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI, 2019-2021), and is currently co-chair of the LESI Asia Pacific. He is an active member of the International Trademark Association (INTA) as a member of the Asia Global Advisory Council (GAC) for 2022-2023 and as a member of the INTA’s Anti-Counterfeiting Committee (ACC). Bien was past Chair of the East Asia & Pacific INTA ACC Sub-Committee. Bien has the distinction of being the lone member from the Philippines of the GAC and the first recipient from the Philippines of the INTA Volunteer Service Award that he received in 2018.
Bien has vast experience in handling IP enforcement litigation, trademark and patent prosecution and maintenance, copyright, data privacy, information security, IT, telecommunications, e-commerce, electronic transactions, cybersecurity and cybercrime. He has been consistently ranked as a leading individual for Intellectual Property and TMT in Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Chambers Asia Pacific, Asialaw Leading Lawyers, Managing IP Stars, Asia IP, and World Trademark Review. Bien has 24 years of experience focusing on trademark and patent portfolio management and in the enforcement and litigation of IP rights before courts and administrative agencies. He manages the anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting programme for major clients covering a wide range of industries. He also advises on IT, media and telecommunications matters, including data privacy, cybersecurity and cybercrime law compliance. Bien has litigated and secured a number of victories for various clients in the Supreme Court of the Philippines. In 2020, Bien secured a conviction against several accused in a software copyright infringement case against an end-user of commercial software. As Philippine representative of the Business Software Alliance from 2008-2011, Bien actively participated in congressional meetings for the amendment of the IP Code, and the then bills on Cybercrime and Data Privacy. From 2021-2022, Bien assisted several clients in providing comments on the amendment of the Public Service Act (passed into law in March 2022). Bien also obtained the very first satellite permits from government regulators on behalf of a client in the satellite or telecommunications space. |
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Eduardo Martinez Martinez Vergara Gonzalez & Serrano |
| Key practice areas: Litigation; banking & finance; capital markets; M&A; debt restructuring; labour | |
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Hector Martinez Platon Martinez Flores San Pedro & Leaño |
| Key practice areas: Corporate; taxation; transactional, M&A | |
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Euney Marie Mata-Perez Mata-Perez Tamayo & Francisco |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; corporate governance; inbound investment; M&A; taxation | |
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Rolando Medalla Jr SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: Taxation; M&A; mining; insurance; foreign investments; joint ventures | |
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Yolanda Mendoza-Eleazar Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose |
| Key practice areas: Banking finance & securities; M&A; foreign investments; corporate law; business counseling; real property | |
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Rommel Mercado Siguion Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial,Inbound investment,Infrastructure,Mergers & acquisitions,Technology, media and telecommunications | |
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Jose Salvador Mirasol Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance; corporate; real estate | |
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Rafael Morales Morales & Justiniano |
| Tel: +632 8834 2551 Email: ramorales@primuslex.com Key practice areas: Banking & finance; capital markets; project finance; M&A; joint ventures; corporate & commercial law |
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| Rafael A Morales is the managing partner of Morales & Justiniano. Previously, he was the managing partner of SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan after being the head of its banking, finance and securities practice group.
Morales has had much recognition for his legal work, including citations in Euromoney Legal Media Group’s “Guide to the World’s Leading Banking Lawyers” and Asian Legal Business’ “List of 100 pre-eminent Asia-Pacific Lawyers.” He has been cited as a leading lawyer by IFLR1000, Legal 500, Asialaw Profiles and Who’s Who Legal. Chambers Asia-Pacific classified him as an eminent practitioner in banking and finance. Morales finished his bachelor of arts in political science (cum laude) at the University of the Philippines, where he also took his bachelor of laws (cum laude and class valedictorian). After his LLM at the University of Michigan, where he was a DeWitt Fellow, he trained as a foreign attorney at Rosenman Colin Freund Lewis & Cohen in New York. He later became a foreign attorney at Anderson Mori & Rabinowitz in Tokyo. He was president of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, an organisation of lawyers from more than 65 jurisdictions with an interest in the Asia-Pacific region. He is a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Philippine Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, American Bar Association, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations, and the Alpha Sigma Fraternity. He is a professorial lecturer at the College of Law of the University of the Philippines. Morales authored two books: “The Philippine General Banking Law (Annotated)” and “The Philippine Securities Regulation Code (Annotated)” as well as numerous legal articles. |
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Alejandro Alfonso Navarro Villaraza & Angangco |
| Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial,Labour & employment,Litigation,Other (please specify) – Thirty-One (31) years of experience in Trial and Appellate Practice before Philippine Courts | |
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Carlos Alfonso Ocampo Ocampo & Manalo |
| Key practice areas: Aviation; capital markets; corporate & commercial; M&A; private equity, venture capital & funds | |
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Jude Ocampo Ocampo & Suralvo |
| Tel: +632 7625 0765 Email: jocampo@ocamposuralvo.com Key practice areas: Corporate & commercial; infrastructure; M&A; power & energy; taxation |
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| Jude B Ocampo specialises in M&A, corporate law, and tax. He earned his LLM from Harvard University as a Landon H Gammon Fellow for Academic Excellence, and his MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Kenan-Flagler Fellow. Jude received his LLB from the University of the Philippines College of Law and his undergraduate degree from Ateneo de Manila.
“Jude and his team can only be described as high performers …. even under Covid restrictions! He has been invaluable in assisting Tamaraw Metals with structuring its establishment in the Philippines, and his firm’s collaboration with DFDL provides the added bonus of regional legal and tax advice. During challenging negotiations, his in-depth understanding of complex financial structures enabled our firm to meet our objectives.” (Perla Woo, managing director – Tamaraw Metals) “Jude excels in difficult circumstances due to his unmatched command of business and regulatory legislation. In our recent transaction, his analysis was consistently insightful and innovative, extensive and nuanced covering both legal and business issues. His invaluable advice enabled us to navigate the procedure and to close with the confidence that every detail was attended to and completed to the highest degree.” (Matti Jokinen, director, QROI Network Service) “Jude has been a reliable legal counsel for The Blue Circle, particularly on tax and regulatory advisory that we sought previously. Jude has been able to quickly capture our DNA, providing us with relevant legal advice and adjusted agreements to kick start our local activities in the same spirit as in other countries we are operating. Thank you for your tireless efforts to make it happen in a short timeline.” (Gilles Beau, Louis Aniban, The Blue Circle) “Jude’s corporate savvy on legal issues that bear on both internal and external corporate outcome on corporate transactions and shareholder agreements and equity is a legend. His wide and varied competency in corporate law strategically complements our highly technology-driven company in cold chain logistics. We are in highly capable hands with Jude in our corner and are confident in competing for cold chain logistics storage leadership with his help.” (Archie C Yan, Glacier Megafridge) |
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Polo Pantaleon Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose |
| Key practice areas: Corporate law; banking & finance; foreign investments; business counseling; real property | |
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Norma Margarita Patacsil Gatmaytan Yap Patacsil Gutierrez & Protacio |
| Key practice areas: M&A; competition & antitrust law; general corporate & commercial practice | |
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Perry Pe Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles |
| Key practice areas: M&A; project development & finance; capital markets | |
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Maria Elizabeth Peralta-Loriega Sarmiento Loriega |
| Tel: +632 7798 8115 Email: meploriega@sl-lawoffice.com Key practice areas: Taxation; M&A; energy law; project finance; acquisition finance; EPC contracts, real estate law; land registration; privatisation; estate planning; construction & infrastructure; general corporation law |
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| The co-managing partner of Sarmiento Loriega Law Office, Maria Elizabeth Peralta-Loriega, graduated class salutatorian from the University of the Philippines’ College of Law. Loriega, who is also a certified public accountant, placed 19th in the 1995 Philippine Bar Examinations and graduated 4th in rank and cum laude from the University of the Philippines with a degree in bachelor of science in business administration and accountancy.
In M&A and project finance, Loriega is known as a seasoned and highly ranked practitioner. Through the years, she has acted as counsel in major acquisition and project finance deals in the energy, real estate, infrastructure, banking, retail, manufacturing, and telecommunications sectors. Most of the deals worked on by Loriega through the years have won citations as the deal of the year, M&A deal of the year, and project finance deal of the year from prestigious deal award-winning bodies. In the field of taxation, Loriega’s award-winning tax practice is heavily sought after for expert, insightful, methodical and practical tax advice. Having served as a Philippine tax expert before international arbitration tribunals, her expertise enables her to provide effective and innovative tax solutions and deal structures, including multi-party transactions requiring complex corporate structuring. Asia Business Law Journal has consistently cited Loriega as among the Philippines’ Top 100 Lawyers in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. The Asian Legal Business has named Loriega among the Top 15 M&A Lawyers for 2022. She was also cited by Chambers & Partners as a highly ranked lawyer in taxation and M&A. Loriega was also cited as among the Top 100 Women in Litigation (tax litigation) for Asia Pacific for 2020 and Litigation Star for 2021 and 2022 by Benchmark Litigation. |
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Antonio Picazo Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos |
| Key practice areas: Corporate; securities; banking; M&A | |
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Carlos Platon Platon Martinez Flores San Pedro & Leaño |
| Key practice areas: Corporate; transactional, M&A | |
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Alexander Poblador Poblador Bautista & Reyes |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration; real estate finance & project development; bankruptcy & corporate reorganisation | |
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Patricia-Ann Prodigalidad ACCRALAW |
| Key practice areas: Antitrust & trade regulation; arbitration & mediation; bankruptcy; insolvency & corporate rehabilitation; construction | |
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Roderico Puno PunoLaw |
| Tel: +632 8284 6701 Email: rvpuno@punolaw.com Key practice areas: Energy, power generation & distribution; infrastructure; utilities regulation; M&A; corporate law |
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| The managing partner of the firm, Roderico Puno, graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in political science in 1985, and a Bachelor of laws degree from the same university in 1989. He obtained his master of laws (with honors) from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago Illinois and was admitted as a partner in the firm in 1995.
From 2001 to 2003, Puno served as vice president-legal for First Philippine Holdings Corporation, a conglomerate engaged in power distribution, power generation, manufacturing, and real estate development. He was included in a team that handled the USD500 million debt restructuring of the parent corporation and other affiliates, being in charge of the Philippine law aspects of the deal. From 2006 to 2014, Puno served as Director of Global Business Power, the power investment arm of the Metrobank/Ty Group, and from 2011-2017, he served as director of GT Capital Holdings, the listed holding company of all the interests of the Ty family in Metrobank, Federal Land, Toyota, and other affiliates of the group. Puno served as corporate secretary of BDO Private Bank from 2004 to 2012, BDO Securities Corporation from 2011 to 2012, Atlas Consolidated and Mining and Development Corporation from 2006 to 2021, and First Philippine Industrial Park from 1996 to 2018. From 2012 to 2014, he served as assistant corporate secretary of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company. Puno currently specialises in energy law, corporation law, banking, project finance, real estate, utilities regulation, privatisation, securities, and infrastructure project development. He is leading authority on Philippine energy law practice, having been in the technical working group of the Committee on Energy of the Philippine Congress, representing the private sector that drafted the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, the primary law governing the energy industry in the Philippines. Puno has been engaged as a public-private partnership (PPP) key legal expert of the Philippine Public-Private Partnership Centre and the Department of Public Works and Highways in connection with the bidding for the development and operation of an expressway-dike project. |
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Grace Quevedo-Panagsagan Platon Martinez Flores San Pedro & Leaño |
| Key practice areas: Civil, property, family laws; data privacy; energy, mining & environment; labour | |
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Enrique Quiason Quiason Makalintal Barot Torres Ibarra Sison & Damaso |
| Tel: +632 86310981 Email: equiason@qmbti.com Key practice areas: M&A; banking; finance & securities law |
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| Enrique I Quiason has been in the practice of law for 36 years and specialises in securities law, banking and finance law, capital markets, and M&A. He assists publicly listed companies as well as private and family-owned corporations in capital raising, financing transactions, sales and acquisitions, restructuring and compliance. He acts as corporate secretary of several publicly held companies.
He graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1985 and received his master of law degree in securities regulation from Georgetown University. He has authored several papers on securities regulation, including, Principles of Securities Regulation published in the Investment Management and the Philippine Stock Market (1995, 2003), Development of Securities Markets of Developing Countries: Theories and Policies, published in 65 Phil. Law Journal (March – June 1990). |
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Dennis Quintero Quisumbing Torres |
| Tel: +63 2 8819 4962 Email: dennis.quintero@quisumbingtorres.com Key practice areas: E-commerce, fintech, blockchain & cryptos,Mergers & acquisitions,Power & energy,Project finance,Other (please specify) – Mining and Natural Resources |
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| Dennis Quintero heads the energy, mining and infrastructure industry group of Quisumbing Torres, a member firm of Baker McKenzie International. He is a partner in the firm’s corporate and commercial/M&A practice group. Dennis is also a certified public accountant.
Dennis has been in the A-List of the Top 100 lawyers in the Philippines since its inaugural year in 2018. He has also been cited as a market leader for M&A and project finance in the energy, mining, natural resources, and oil and gas sectors by the IFLR 1000: Financial and Corporate Guide. In addition, IFLR recognised him as one of Asia’s best lawyers for energy and infrastructure, M&A, and project finance. Dennis is consistently ranked as a leading individual for corporate and M&A, and hall of fame for projects and energy by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific. He is a leading individual for projects, infrastructure, and energy by Chambers Global and the Asia Pacific. He was named distinguished practitioner for energy and infrastructure by asialaw Leading Lawyers. Dennis advises clients on cross-border acquisitions of shares and assets as well as on structuring investments and divestments in a range of industries, including renewable and thermal energy, upstream and downstream oil and gas, mining, infrastructure, construction, public-private partnership projects, or official development assistance funded projects, and financial services. He advises clients in joint venture negotiations and agreements, project development, project finance, corporate structuring, negotiations with the national and local governments for project consent requirements, and regulatory matters. He advises clients in the fields of financial services regulations (insurance, banking, insurance, fintech, electronic money, remittance, transfer services, and payment systems). |
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Ramon Quisumbing Quisumbing Torres |
| Tel: +63 2 8819 4700 Email: ramon.quisumbing@quisumbingtorres.com Key practice areas: Litigation; alternative litigation; international arbitration |
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| Ramon J Quisumbing is the managing partner of Quisumbing Torres and a member of its dispute resolution practice group. He is also a member of the firm’s industrials, manufacturing and transportation industry group. He has represented numerous multinational companies, including AT&T, The Dow Chemical Company, Cisco, Budget Rental, Occidental Chemical, Taisei, TeleTech, Agilent, Steelcase and Intel, among others. Ramon’s practice focuses on litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and international arbitration. He handles commercial, civil and appellate litigation. He frequently handles the settlement of estates of high net worth individuals.
Ramon has been consistently ranked as a leading individual by prominent legal directories. He has been ranked as a leading individual for dispute resolution in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific from 2016 to 2022, an eminent practitioner for dispute resolution, and dispute resolution: arbitration in Chambers Asia Pacific from 2014 to 2022, and a litigation star for commercial and transactions, and international arbitration in Benchmark Litigation from 2019 to 2021, and elite practitioner for dispute resolution and litigation in Asialaw Leading Lawyers from 2019 to 2022. He is also among Asia Business Law Journal‘s A-List of the country’s top 100 lawyers from 2018 to the present. Under his leadership, Quisumbing Torres has been recognised and highly ranked by leading legal directories in the region. Recently, the firm has been recognised by Asian Legal Business as one of the best law firms to work for in the Philippines for eight years (2013 to 2016, 2018 to 2020, and 2022). The Legal 500 Asia Pacific named Quisumbing Torres as the Philippine Law Firm of the Year 2020-2021 at their inaugural Southeast Asia Awards. The firm also won the Philippine Law Firm of the Year for Client Service Excellence by Asialaw in 2021. Ramon is a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the International Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the New York State Bar Association. |
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Marievic Ramos-Añonuevo SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: Aviation; banking & finance; capital markets; corporate/M&A; projects, infrastructure & energy; real estate & construction | |
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Joseph Manolo Rebano Del Rosario & Del Rosario |
| Tel: +632 8810 1791/5317 7888 Email: joseph.rebano@delrosariolaw.com Key practice areas: Wet & dry shipping work; marine casualty & environmental claims; ship finance & commercial transactions; corporate & foreign investment; insurance & reinsurance |
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| Joseph Rebano joined Del Rosario & Del Rosario in 1996 and currently heads the firm’s marine casualty practice. Joseph has a broad maritime focused practice. He acts for vessel owners and charterers, managers or agents, transport intermediaries, port terminals, protection and indemnity clubs, and other marine insurers in both contentious and non-contentious matters.
Joseph’s experience covers a wide range of shipping matters, including charter party disputes, ship casualties, marine environmental and pollution claims, defence of seafarer personal injury and death claims, ship arrest, ship finance or sale and purchase, and disputes involving carriage of goods or passengers. He has been involved in numerous major marine casualties in the Philippines and other jurisdictions, including collisions, fires and groundings. Some of the significant maritime casualties he has been involved in are the “NOL Schedar” in 2000 (grounding or pollution incident resulted in major changes in Philippine maritime environmental legislation), “Solar 1” in 2006 (considered as the Philippines’ largest pollution incident), “Superferry 14” in 2004 (terrorist bombing), and “St Thomas Aquinas” in 2013 (potential wreck removal due to collision). On the insurance side, Joseph advises clients on various types of insurance products, including regulatory and claim related matters. Joseph also has considerable experience in commercial, corporate, regulatory and transactional matters specialising in maritime-related entities, including disputes arising from joint ventures, compliances and shareholder disputes. Year on year, Joseph is recognised in the various legal directories. He is a hall of fame lawyer for shipping in Legal 500 and a distinguished practitioner for shipping in AsiaLaw. Chambers Asia 2012 states: “Joseph Rebano is best known for his expertise in admiralty and related investigations. Sources describe him as ‘an outstanding lawyer, is very diligent and very thorough.’” Since 2018, Joseph has consistently been recognised by Asia Business Law Journal as among The Philippines Top 100 lawyers. He is a past president of the Philippine Maritime Law Association, former vice chairman of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) Maritime Committee, a former core group member of the Draft Maritime Code project of the Philippine congress and a trustee in the Philippine Bar Association. He graduated in law from the University of the Philippines. |
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Gilbert Raymund Reyes Poblador Bautista & Reyes |
| Key practice areas: Litigation; arbitration; IP; labour & employment; real estate development & regulation | |
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Rocky Alejandro Reyes SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan |
| Key practice areas: Corporate/M&A; finance; projects, infrastructure & energy | |
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Ricardo Romulo Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles |
| Key practice areas: Corporate law | |
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Roderick Salazar Fortun Narvasa & Salazar |
| Key practice areas: Projects, mining & energy; corporate & commercial; M&A; real estate; arbitration | |
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Tranquil Gervacio Salvador III Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR,Aviation,Environment,Litigation,Other (please specify) – Insurance and Healthcare | |
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Augusto San Pedro Platon Martinez Flores San Pedro & Leaño |
| Key practice areas: IP; IP prosecution; IP litigation; IP enforcement |
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Augusto San Pedro Jr Villaraza & Angangco |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR; bankruptcy & insolvency; corporate & commercial; insurance & reinsurance; litigation |
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Gemma Santos Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos |
| Key practice areas: Capital markets (equity & debt): M&A; general corporate law | |
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Roy Enrico Santos PJS Law |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR,Labour & employment,Litigation,Power & energy | |
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Bienvenido Somera Jr Villaraza & Angangco |
| Key practice areas: IP | |
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Ruelito Soriano Quiason Makalintal Barot Torres Ibarra Sison & Damaso |
| Tel: +632 8631 0981 Email: rsoriano@qmbti.com Key practice areas: Banking & finance,Capital markets,Corporate & commercial,Mergers & acquisitions,Taxation |
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| Ruelito Soriano is the managing partner of Quiason Makalintal Barot Torres Ibarra Sison & Damaso, and a supervising partner of its corporate and tax groups. He specialises in M&A, corporate and project financing, securities offerings, tax planning and structuring advice for the firm’s various clients. He has led the firm’s teams in numerous projects across various industries, including energy, fintech, e-commerce, banking, insurance, telecommunications, information technology, airline ground handling, business process outsourcing, education, and retail trade, among others.
Ruel concurrently serves as co-chief compliance and risk management officer of the transnational diversified group. He chairs the board of directors of a dual currency e-money issuer, MarCoPay, sits on the board of directors of various companies, and serves as corporate secretary of Tonik Digital Bank and a solar energy company Raslag Corp. He obtained his bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Law from the Ateneo de Manila University. |
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Eusebio Tan ACCRALAW |
| Key practice areas: Banking & finance,Corporate & commercial,Joint ventures,Mergers & acquisitions,Other (please specify) – Privatization/Public-Private Partnership Projects | |
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Sylvette Tankiang Villaraza & Angangco |
| Key practice areas: Corporate law; M&A; infrastructure & energy; real estate & construction | |
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Joe Nathan Tenefrancia Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia |
| Tel: +632 8810 5858 Email: jp.tenefrancia@cruzmarcelo.com Key practice areas: Environment,Litigation,Power & energy,Taxation,Technology, media and telecommunications |
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| Joe Nathan Tenefrancia is Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia’s (CMT) managing partner and head of its telecommunications and information and communications technology group. He is a litigator and a member of CMT’s litigation and dispute resolution department. He has orally argued before the Philippine Supreme Court, court of appeals, securities and exchange commission, commission on elections, and congress acting as a national board of canvassers.
With his background in mining engineering, he is also a member of CMT’s mining and natural resources department. He was appointed assistant secretary for legal affairs (presidential management staff) under the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines. Subsequently, he was appointed as chief presidential legal counsel and then as senior deputy executive secretary for legal affairs. He obtained his bachelor of laws in 1990 and holds a bachelor of science degree in mining engineering (1985) both from the University of the Philippines. |
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Pancho Umali Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia |
| Tel: +632 8810 5858 Email: pg.umali@cruzmarcelo.com Key practice areas: Capital markets,Corporate & commercial,Power & energy,Securitisation & structured finance,Other (please specify) – Property Development, Immigration |
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| Pancho Umali is a senior partner in Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia’s corporate and commercial law department and mining and natural resources department.
He regularly advises clients on, among others, investment structures and protection, nationality restrictions, compliance and governance, government procurement, tax, conveyancing, property development, citizenship, immigration, employment and outsourcing. As a member of the firm’s mining and natural resources department, he also routinely assists clients particularly on land and environmental issues, indigenous peoples, social and development management, community relations, security, and local governments. He holds a degree in bachelor of arts major in philosophy from the University of the Philippines, where he graduated cum laude. In 2001, he obtained his bachelor of laws degree from the same university where he graduated as a member of the University of the Philippines Law Honors’ Society, the Order of the Purple Feather. Umali was admitted to the Philippine Bar the succeeding year. Umali is a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines; the Philippine Bar Association; the Taguig Lawyers League; and the Makati Law Foundation. |
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Susan Villanueva Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia |
| Tel: +632 8810 5858 Email: sd.villanueva@cruzmarcelo.com Key practice areas: Intellectual property,Taxation,Other (please specify) – Trade |
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| Susan D Villanueva is an experienced and accomplished litigator who has successfully represented IP, tax and trade cases.
Villanueva heads the firm’s IP department and is the principal litigator of IP litigation and enforcement cases. She was the principal litigator of landmark IP cases in the Philippines where the Supreme Court first declared a trademark as internationally well-known and affirmed the jurisdiction of the IP Office over administrative cases for violations of IP rights. She also successfully defended before the Supreme Court search warrants issued against suspected infringers in an enforcement action for the liquefied petroleum gasoline industry. She successfully argued before the Supreme Court to affirm the abandonment of a patent on the ground of public interest. Villanueva is also a lead litigator of the tax litigation group with extensive experience handling cases before the court of tax appeals and appellate courts. Villanueva is the principal advisor and lead litigator of a major petroleum company on major tax litigation matters. She also heads the firm’s trade practice group. She represented the Philippine cement industry in obtaining the first provisional safeguard measure issued in the Philippines. She has also advised the petrochemical industry on Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) matters. Villanueva is a professorial lecturer of IP law at the University of the Philippines College of Law. She is also a member of the American Bar Association and the New York Bar Association. Villanueva earned her bachelor of laws degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1991, graduating cum laude and salutatorian. She ranked fourth in the 1991 Philippine Bar Examinations. She earned her master of laws degree, specialising in IP and international law, from Yale University in 1995. |
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Rolando Mario Villonco Siguion Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako |
| Key practice areas: Labour & employment; corporate law; corporate & civil litigation | |
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Ben Dominic Yap Gatmaytan Yap Patacsil Gutierrez & Protacio |
| Key practice areas: Arbitration & ADR,Infrastructure,Joint ventures,Litigation,Power & energy | |
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Gil Roberto Zerrudo Quisumbing Torres |
| Tel: +63 2 8819 4916 Email: gil.zerrudo@quisumbingtorres.com Key practice areas: Labour & employment,Outsourcing,Technology, media and telecommunications |
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| Gil Roberto Zerrudo is a partner in the employment practice group of Quisumbing Torres, where he is a member of its management committee, and co-head of the technology, media and telecommunications industry group. Gil also participates in initiatives of Baker & McKenzie International of which Quisumbing Torres is a member firm. He is a member of Baker McKenzie’s global policy committee, nominating committee, and Asia Pacific regional council.
In his more than 25 years of law practice, Gil is consistently cited as a Legal 500 and Chambers Asia Pacific leading individual for employment. Gil’s strategic focus on employment practice propelled his and the team’s consistent top-tier ranking in The Legal 500 from 2006 to the present and the Chambers Asia Pacific from 2009 to the present. Gil regularly advises on employment agreements, employee benefits and compensation, executive compensation, transfers, and employment-related investigations and terminations. He also handles occupational health and safety matters, discrimination law advice, trade union recognition procedures, and labour litigation. He has extensive experience representing clients engaged in business process outsourcing, IT and telecommunications, and digital transformation in the pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors. Gil authored many publications and legal updates on employment matters, including the Power UP! Employers’ Playbook: Reopening the Workplace, Quisumbing Torres’ Guide to Philippine Employment Laws for the Private Sector, and various client alerts on key issues facing employers amid the current pandemic. He spearheaded the firm’s latest primer, Going Digital: Legal and Regulatory Framework of Doing Business Online in the Philippines. He also served as a resource speaker on labour and employment law in various local and regional seminars. Leveraging his firm management roles in Quisumbing Torres’ management committee and the various global and regional committees of Baker McKenzie International, Gil drives socially relevant and meaningful initiatives of Quisumbing Torres’ CSR and pro bono work. He led the team in mobilising assistance and aid for the front liners since the beginning of the pandemic. His other CSR programs include organising relief operations in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Odette in collaboration with the Philippine Coast Guard, where he is an Auxiliary Officer. He also provides pro bono advice and assistance to an international organisation focused on human rights in several cases involving the illegal trafficking of women and children. Gil is instrumental in promoting inclusion and diversity in the larger Philippine legal community in partnership with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. Some initiatives include virtual events on relevant topics, such as workplace diversity and the role of LGBTQ+ in Driving Business Transformation Beyond Covid-19, International Women’s Day: #BreaktheBias Movement, and A Lawyer’s Guide to Better Mental Health. Gil champions the Quisumbing Torres’ Women in Law series that celebrates the talent, mentorship, and advancement of the leading female lawyers of the firm. Based on research conducted by Asia Business Law Journal, the following are the philippines’ top 100 lawyers. Biographies and contact details, where provided, were written by the lawyers themselves and have not been independently verified. |
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