Interest for arbitration growing among Philippines firms

MANILA, Philippines — The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) expects more Philippine companies to take the arbitration route in settling commercial disputes, especially now that new rules have been introduced to expedite the process and make it more accessible even to small firms.

Lawyer Alexis Mourre, president of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, said the growing interest for arbitration among local companies was evident in the 2nd Arbitration Day Philippines held Friday at the University of the Philippines- Bonifacio Global City Campus, where a significant increase in the number of participants was noted.

“It was a very successful event; we had an extremely interesting discussion about new policies that the ICC has introduced in the past four years in order to increase the time and cost efficiency of the ICC arbitration, to increase transparency of arbitration and establish the highest standards of ethics in arbitrations. We had a great participation, excellent debate and this conference shows the growing interest in the Philippines,” Mourre said.

Mourre said the Philippines, being a very important economy in the ASEAN region, will surely grow as an arbitration center in the years to come.

Right now, Mourre said there are already several large arbitration cases involving Philippine companies.

This will grow further, he said, after the ICC introduced expedited rules involving low amounts of disputes, allowing even small companies to bring cases to the international court.