SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw) Partners Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko, Carlos Roberto Z. Lopez, John Christian A. Regalado, and Ma. Patricia B. Paz-Jacoba and Of Counsel Emmanuel M. Lombos have been cited in The Legal 500’s inaugural Arbitration Powerlist: Southeast Asia 2022.

This edition of the Private Practice Powerlist, which draws on extensive research by The Legal 500, highlights the region’s leading arbitration lawyers.

Mr. Ongkiko heads the Firm’s Litigation Department. He has extensive experience both as arbitrator and arbitration counsel in international and domestic arbitration involving commercial and construction disputes.  He has acted as Chairman and Member of Arbitral Tribunal, and sole arbitrator, in ad hoc arbitrations under the Philippine Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Act, and institutional arbitrations under the Rules of Arbitration of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRC), the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC) and the National Arbitration and Mediation (NAM) (New York).  He has also acted as arbitration counsel in ad hoc arbitrations under the Philippine ADR Act and the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, as well as in institutional arbitrations under the International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Rules and the CIAC Rules. He is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (East Asia branch) and member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration. One of the well-known and active local proponents of the use of arbitration for dispute resolution in the Philippines, Mr. Ongkiko is President Emeritus of the Philippine Institute of Arbitrators, and a Trustee of both the PDRC and the Philippine Institute of Construction of Arbitrators and Mediators, Inc. where he is the immediate Past President.  He is an accredited arbitrator of, among others, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, the Asian International Arbitration Centre, the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, the Vienna International Arbitration Centre, and the PDRC, the CIAC, the Philippine International Center for Conflict Resolution, and the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

Mr. Lopez’s arbitration work is complemented by his wide ranging practice, which has included cases before the Philippine Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals, Office of the Ombudsman, Sandiganbayan (Graft Court), the Intellectual Property Office, the Central Board of Assessment Appeals and local boards of assessment appeals, and administrative agencies such as the Philippine Competition Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Mr. Lopez is one of the firm’s active arbitration counsel having recently appeared or advised in claims against the Philippine government (for private sector contractors in significant infrastructure projects) and a major multinational entity (for a prominent distribution company). He is a lecturer at the University of the Philippines College of Law and the Ateneo de Manila School of Law.

Mr. Regalado’s experience in arbitration covers the sectors of aviation, banking and finance, construction, distribution, e-commerce, energy, insurance, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate. He has represented clients in disputes before the International Chamber of Commerce of the International Court of Arbitration, the Philippine Construction Industry Arbitration Commission, ad hoc arbitral tribunals, and the Philippine courts in applications for interim relief. Mr. Regalado's corporate law background covers foreign investments, real estate, and tax.

Ms. Paz-Jacoba has deep experience in dispute resolution for clients operating in highly regulated sectors such as water, energy, mining, construction, environmental protection, land use, and telecommunications. She has represented clients in domestic and international arbitrations, including before ad hoc tribunals and those administered by the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, as well as before Philippine courts on interim relief applications and other procedures in aid of arbitration. Ms. Paz-Jacoba is an accredited arbitrator of the Philippine International Center for Conflict Resolution and a member of the Philippine Institute of Arbitrators.

Mr. Lombos is a leading international arbitration lawyer and litigator, who is go-to counsel of top corporations and institutions. He has acted as Philippine litigation counsel for, among others, the Government of the United States, First Pacific Group, Philip Morris International, Keppel Group of Singapore, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Sumitomo Corporation, IMPSA of Argentina, and BMW as well as state-owned enterprises of various countries. He led the team that acted for Maynilad Water Services, Inc. in a rate rebasing dispute with the Metropolitan Water Sewerage System (MWSS) where an international appeals panel handling the arbitration proceedings ruled in favor of Maynilad. This was doubly significant because a parallel arbitration under another panel involving MWSS’s other concessionaire covering an identical Concession Agreement resulted in a loss for the concessionaire on the same corporate income tax issue. He has represented major Philippine and international companies in ICC, SIAC, HKIAC, and PDRCI arbitrations.

Read more here or access the full list online by visiting The Legal 500’s website at www.legal500.com.