Firm Profile > Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles > Manila, Philippines
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles Offices
21st FLOOR, PHILAMLIFE TOWER
8767 PASEO DE ROXAS
MAKATI CITY
Philippines
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- Profile > Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles > Manila, Philippines
- Profile > Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles > The Legal 500 Rankings
Banking and finance Tier 2
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles is particularly active in advising on loan facility agreements, acting for borrowers and lenders. The overall project development and finance group is led by Ma. Stella A. Batungbacal, Cristina Collantes-Garcia, and associate Nastasha Ortiz-Luis; Jose Salvador Mirasol is the key contact in the banking and finance practice. Mirasol is known for advising corporate clients and banks on financing and lending.
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Other key lawyers:
Key clients
Joyson Safety Systems International Finance B.V., (“JSSIFBV”) and Joyson Safety Systems (Philippines) Corporation (“JSSPC”)
Interserve Group Limited
THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM)
UBS
Capital markets Tier 2
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles handles capital markets work including IPOs and equity issues, advising the companies involved as well as the bookrunners, lead managers and underwriters. The team is led by Perry Pe, Ma. Stella Batungbacel and Christiana Andrea Golez.
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Corporate and M&A Tier 2
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles has a longstanding reputation for advising large domestic and international corporate clients on a range of issues including establishing new business ventures, investments, regulatory compliance and joint ventures. Key practitioner Fernando Sioson specialises in assisting clients in their dealings with government bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Energy, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Department of Transportation and Communications.
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Dispute resolution Tier 2
The 'technically strong' and 'professional' lawyers at Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles primarily act for commercial clients from a variety of industries on a broad range of civil, criminal, administrative, and regulatory issues. A recent highlight has been representing Philippine Tobacco Institute, Inc. in a successful attempt to overturn the prohibition by the City of Balanga on the use, sale and advertisement of tobacco products in the city's university town. Arbitration is also a key focus; the firm is especially active advising large multinationals from the oil and gas sectors in proceedings against public bodies. Louie Ogsimer, Tranquil Salvador and Jomini Nazareno are the names to note.
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Testimonials
‘Technically strong, professional, a pleasure to work with.‘
‘Louie Ogsimer and his team have strong technical skills and an understanding of the dynamics of arbitration.‘
‘This team’s strengths are 1) execution, 2) passion and 3) professionalism.‘
‘Mr. Louie Ogsimer stands-out as a specialist for dispute resolution in Philippine law.‘
Intellectual property Tier 2
A full-service firm, Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles' intellectual property team advises on the application, enforcement and licensing of trade marks, patents and copyrights. The team is particularly active in technology matters, advising on domain names, electronic commerce, cyberspace, and software issues.
Projects and energy Tier 2
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles acts for both domestic and overseas clients engaged in projects relating to telecoms, mining and energy. Multi-jurisdictional projects are a particular specialism, and the firm recently advised Facebook on the Philippine component of the submarine fibre optic cable which links the US and Hong Kong. Senior partner Perry Pe handles project finance and advises lenders such as commercial banks, multilateral and bilateral lending institutions and export credit agencies. Cristina Collantes-Garcia is also a finance specialist and assists with the structuring, financing and licensing issues associated with cross-border ventures. At associate level, Mark Tiaoqui has a broad practice that includes advising on the tax elements of large projects.
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Other key lawyers:
Key clients
Shell Energy Asia
Consortium of Jera Co., Inc., Chevron Philippines Inc., and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha
Real estate and construction Tier 2
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles advises on issues including the constraints of land ownership, leases of government lands and foreign real estate investments.
Tax Tier 2
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles' tax practice advises on the tax implications of corporate transactions and reorganisations, as well as handling tax planning and litigation.
Immigration Tier 3
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles advises clients on immigration law matters, including assisting employers with bringing foreign workers into the Philippines.
Labour and employment Tier 3
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles's broad labour practice encompasses advice on collective bargaining, health and safety regulations, non-compete agreements, and sexual harassment in the workplace.
TMT Tier 3
Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles focuses on providing regulatory advice to clients from the telecoms, gaming and mass media sectors. Victor Espiritu, Herminio Ozaeta and Marie Quiogue are the key practitioners.
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Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles > Firm Profile
The firm: The firm traces its roots to the law firm of Gibbs, McDonough and Ozaeta, which practised law in the Philippines in the early 1900s. Allison D Gibbs was a well-known tax and corporate lawyer and Charles A McDonough was a name in criminal law practice. Roman A Ozaeta, who later became a distinguished justice of the Supreme Court, and his son, Herminio, an outstanding corporate lawyer in his own right, re-established the firm in 1957. The firm underwent several name changes because of a rule limiting the partnership name to living and active partners (a rule which was subsequently abolished), and eventually acquired its present name.
The current senior partners are Ricardo J Romulo, Jose F Buenaventura and Eduardo de los Angeles. One partner, Exequiel B Javier, is on leave, having been elected as governor of Antique province. The firm currently has 98 lawyers.
Romulo is the only Philippine firm with an office in Hong Kong. It provides international investors with advice on Philippine law and advises Philippine clients on international transactions. However, it is not permitted to practise Hong Kong law.
The firm maintains correspondence with foreign lawyers and law firms. It is the sole Philippine member of Lex Mundi, a worldwide network of 160 independent law firms.
Areas of practice: The firm engages in the general practice of law but its members specialise in particular areas. The majority of the firm’s lawyers have received training and graduate degrees from foreign universities. All of them speak fluent English, and some also speak Chinese, Spanish and Japanese.
The firm’s specialist areas of practice include: alternative dispute resolution; capital market transactions; corporate reorganisations and bankruptcy; energy; environmental law; export and economic zones; healthcare; infrastructure; insurance; joint ventures; merger and acquisitions; oil and gas; privatisation; tax compliance audits; telecommunications; and trusts and estates.
Main Contacts
Department | Name | Telephone | |
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Admiralty | Manuel M Cosico | ||
Banking | Reynaldo G Geronimo | ||
Corporate banking and finance | Jose Salvador Y Mirasol | ||
Ecclesiastical affairs | Ma Liza L Rosario | ||
Environment and natural resources | Tranquil Gervacio S Salvador III | ||
Family law | Jose Gabriel R Benedicto | ||
General corporate/international | Teresita AM Villaruz | ||
General corporate/international | Wilma Valdemoro Cua | ||
Immigration | Maria Teresita C Sison Go | ||
Intellectual property | Rogelio Nicandro | ||
Labour | Enriquito J Mendoza | ||
Litigation/arbitration | Tranquil Gervacio S Salvador III | ||
Litigation/arbitration | Louie T Ogsimer | ||
Project development and finance | Perry L Pe | ||
Real estate/leisure/entertainment | Joaquin V Sayoc | ||
Securities | Cynthia Roxas-del Castillo | ||
Taxation | Priscilla B Valer | ||
Taxation | Jayson L Fernandez | ||
Technology media and telecommunications | Herminio S Ozaeta Jr |
Lawyer Profiles
Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
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Mr Fernando Arguelles, Jr. | Partner | View Profile |
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Mr Jose Gabriel Benedicto | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Yvette Chua | Yvette C. Chua is a partner | View Profile |
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Ms Anna Cristina Collantes-Garcia | Partner | View Profile |
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Wilma M. Valdemoro Cua | Senior Partner | View Profile |
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Mr V. Johann Espiritu | Partner | View Profile |
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Gizela Gonzalez | Partner | View Profile |
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Mr. Justin Vincent J. La Chica | JV is an associate who focuses on various fields of legal practice,… | View Profile |
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Lee Benjamin Lerma | Partner | View Profile |
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Enriquito Mendoza | Senior Partner | View Profile |
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Mr Jomini Nazareno | Partner | View Profile |
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Mr Perry Pe | Senior Partner, Member of the Executive Board, Department Head | View Profile |
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Mr Luis Alfonso Seña | ASSOCIATE | View Profile |
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Mr Jesse Eleazer Tantoco | Associate | View Profile |
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Joyce Anne Wong | Senior Associate | View Profile |
Staff Figures
Number of lawyers : 98 at this office : 88Languages
English Chinese Japanese Spanish TagalogMemberships
American Bar Association (ABA) ASEAN Law Association Asia-Pacific Law Association Asian Patent attorneys Association(APAA) International Bar Association (IBA) International Trademark Association Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) LAW ASIA Lex MundiRomulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles > Firm Profile
Our mission is to pursue at all times the path of excellence, to develop our capabilities to the fullest, and to extend ourselves to the limit.
Our vision is to faithfully adhere to the principles of dedicated service in the finest traditions and highest ideals of a learned and noble profession.
From a modest commercial law practice in downtown Manila at the turn of the 20th century, today we are one of the largest and most highly regarded law firms in the Philippines with a full offering of legal services, including advice and representation in banking and finance, capital market and securities, energy and infrastructure, immigration, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation and arbitration, real estate and natural resources, taxation, and technology, media, and telecommunications.
We are composed of more than 100 lawyers – all of whom speak English fluently and a good number of whom have received training and graduate degrees from universities abroad. Our lawyers are also active officers and members of business and civic associations in the Philippines and around the world.
We are the sole Philippine member of Lex Mundi, a global network of about 160 independent law firms, with a combined total of more than 21,000 lawyers in all commercially significant jurisdictions throughout the world. We are also the TRACE partner firm in the Philippines and join other TRACE firms around the world in providing practical and cost-effective anti-bribery compliance to global businesses.
“First, we are lawyers above all else and, as such, we must be votaries of the law, and as integral parts of the legal system, we are committed to make it work. Second, we are advocates and, as such, we must within reason defend and protect the legitimate interests of our clients. Third, we are professionals and, as such, we owe it to ourselves and the clientele we serve to pursue at all times the path of excellence, to develop our capabilities to the fullest, and to extend ourselves to the limit. We must bear in mind that every right implies a responsibility, every opportunity an obligation, every possession a duty.
“I would like our firm to exemplify one of my favorite passages from Justice Holmes:
‘They carry no banners, they beat no drums; but where they are, men learn that bustle and push are not equal of quiet genius and serene mastery.’” (Excerpt from remarks of Mr. Ricardo J. Romulo, Senior Partner, on the occasion of the firm’s Anniversary in 1982.)
Our History
ROMULO traces its roots to the law firm which Allison D. Gibbs and William Kincaid established in 1902. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Allison D. Gibbs and William Kincaid arrived in the Philippines as part of the Colorado and Nebraska volunteers, respectively. After the war, they decided to settle in the Philippines and engage in the practice of law. They hung their shingle in the business center of Manila in No. 9 Plaza Moraga.
The firm was reorganized several times until Charles McDonough was admitted into the partnership. Allison D. Gibbs’ sons, Findley and Allison J., would later join the firm as assistant attorneys while an upstart Filipino lawyer by the name of Roman Ozaeta was admitted as partner in 1931.
The firm, then known as Gibbs McDonough and Ozaeta, had an extensive practice in commercial law. It handled cases involving banking, corporation law, insurance, and public utilities. It pioneered in the law on intellectual property and successfully handled cases involving infringement of trademarks and copyright.
While Allison D. Gibbs became a well-known corporate lawyer, the firm also developed a reputation for outstanding trial work and appellate practice. Charles McDonough earned a name for himself as an outstanding trial lawyer while Roman Ozaeta earned renown for his meticulous and excellently composed pleadings and briefs.
In 1936, Roman Ozaeta resigned from the firm to become judge of the then Court of First Instance. He went on to become Solicitor General in 1938, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1941, Secretary of Justice in 1946, and again an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1948 to 1950.
After retiring from public service, Roman Ozaeta joined his son Herminio, Allan O’Gorman, and Carlos Romulo, Jr. in private practice. Following the plane crash that claimed the lives of Alan O’Gorman and Carlos Romulo, Jr. in 1957, Allison J. Gibbs joined the Ozaetas and formed the firm Ozaeta Gibbs and Ozaeta.
Carlos Romulo Jr.’s brother, Ricardo J. Romulo, would later become Senior Partner himself and, following a previous rule of practice which limited the name of a law office to those of its active and living partners, the firm was renamed Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles.
In October 2002, ROMULO celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding with the descendants of Allison D. Gibbs.
The firm handled several landmark cases, some of which developed into jurisprudence which is still studied in law schools today.
In 1910, the firm successfully won the acquittal of a fellow named Ah Chong and helped establish precedence for the use of mistake of fact sufficient to negate criminal intent [U.S. v. Ah Chong, 15 Phil 488 (1910)].
In 1926, the firm successfully challenged the constitutionality of Act No. 2792, the Chinese Bookkeeping Act, which prohibited Chinese merchants from keeping their books of account in the Chinese language. The case reached all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down the law on the ground that it violated due process and denied Chinese merchants equal protection of the law, noting that most Chinese merchants knew only the Chinese language and the effect of the law was to keep them in the dark as to the financial condition of their business [Yu v. Trinidad, 271 U.S. 500 (1926)].
In 1923, Charles McDonough handled the celebrated case of Ray Conley, a police detective charged with receiving a bribe from gamblers in Manila. Through his painstaking cross-examination, Charles McDonough caught the prosecution witnesses in a web of contradictions and improbabilities and won for his client an acquittal. The case was later attributed to have caused a cabinet crisis when, following Conley’s reinstatement by Governor General Leonard Wood, department secretaries who had differences of opinion resigned en masse.
Profile Source: www.Romulo.com
Main Contacts
Department | Name | Telephone | |
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Project Development & Finance | Perry L. Pe | perry.pe@romulo.com | +63285559555 |
Project Development & Finance | Anna Cristina Collantes-Garcia | Cristina.Collantes@Romulo.com | +63285559555 |