Our law firm was founded in 1901, and has a reputation as the oldest continuously operating law office in the country.
The Philippines at the turn of the 20th century was a colony of the United States. Manila – already a hub of Southeast Asian trade – had become the main American outpost in Asia. Two American lawyers, John W. Hausserman – formerly of the U.S. Judge Advocate General’s Office – and Charles Cohn, were the firm’s founding partners.
In 1903, the Cohn & Hausserman Law Office was appointed the Philippine Branch of the Coudert Brothers, a New York law firm (in a nod to tradition, the firm’s cable address was “TREDOUC” – the reverse of “COUDERT”). When the Coudert Brothers closed their Philippine Branch in 1907, Cohn & Hausserman continued their practice, later merging it with the law firm of Ortigas and Fisher. Hausserman would later establish Benguet Consolidated, the pioneer in Philippine gold mining, while Fisher would become a justice of the Philippine Supreme Court.
In 1923, Hausserman, Ortigas, Cohn & Fisher merged with Kincaid, Perkins & Kincaid, which later became Fisher, Dewitt, Perkins & Brady, after other American partners joined the practice. A notable event occurred in 1936, when Alfonso Ponce Enrile, one of the most noted trial lawyers of his time, became the first Filipino partner, and the firm became known as Dewitt, Perkins and Ponce Enrile. From that time on, the engagement of American lawyers ceased, and the firm evolved to be entirely Filipino.
Leonardo Siguion Reyna and Manuel Montecillo joined the firm in 1948 and became General Partners in 1961. Both Siguion Reyna (“Sig”) and Montecillo (“Monte”) continued practicing until they passed away in 2010 and 2011, respectively. With more than 60 years of active legal practice, Sig and Monte were the longest-serving legal practitioners at the time of their demise. Oscar Ongsiako, the third name partner, passed away in 1995.
Keeping to tradition, our firm’s leadership continues to be lodged with our General Partners. Our Chairman, Rolando Mario Villonco, was elevated to the General Partnership in 1996. Cesar Manalaysay, Mario Andres and Edgardo Balois became General Partners in 2011.
Today, images of our name partners line the walls of our offices – a reminder to our incumbents that we have a legacy of service to live up to, that we belong to an institution that has been an integral part of Philippine business for more than a century, and that we have an obligation to ensure that the tradition of excellence, begun and nurtured by our predecessors, will continue.
Founded in 1901
50 people in their team
Handling an active case load involving civil, criminal and administrative litigation, our lawyers appear before all the courts (Metropolitan and Municipal Trial Courts; Regional Trial Courts; the Sandiganbayan [a special Philippine court with jurisdiction over matters involving public officers]; the Court of Tax Appeals; the Court of Appeals; and the Supreme Court) and almost all the quasi-judicial bodies (including the National Labor Relations Commission; the Securities and Exchange Commission; the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board; the Home Insurance Guaranty Corporation; the Office of the Ombudsman; City and Provincial Prosecutors; Office of Legal Affairs of the Department of Trade and Industry; the Civil Service Commission).
We handle trial and appellate proceedings. Our lawyers are trained to study the art of trial, and to develop their writing skills and a “to-the-point” writing style for appellate practice.
We are also active in international arbitration, the most active matter to date being our firm’s work as Philippine counsel for German airport operator Fraport, which has successfully pursued investment arbitration under the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) process.
Recognized in various international legal directories as one of the top commercial and mergers-and- acquisitions firms in the Philippines, (Chamber and Partners 2000-2001 review of the world’s top law firms; Asia Pacific Law 500), our firm’s corporate lawyers handle a comprehensive array of corporate work and can give expert advice on many types of commercial transactions. We handle corporate and joint venture formation, corporate housekeeping (Corporate Secretary work), capital restructuring (such as registrations increases in a corporation’s capital stock), application for incentives (under special laws and with specialized agencies such as the Philippines Export Zone Authority and the Board of Investments), mergers and acquisitions, and due diligence work. In conjunction with our Corporate Litigation and Securities Practice Group, our corporate work also covers corporate finance, securities regulation and corporate liquidation.
A sample of our recent work (mid-1999 to early 2000) in this practice area includes (all are a matter of public record and do not involve confidential disclosures):
A. DIVESTMENTS: Sale of ABB Koppel, Inc to Fedders, International; Sale of Philippine Rubber Project Company (a Goodyear wholly-owned subsidiary) to a local cooperative; Sale of Surfactants Business of Chemphil Albright & Wilson Corporation to Stepan Philippines, Inc.; Sale by Asea Brown Boveri, Inc., of its entire holding in ABB Power, Inc., to ABB Power Generation Investment, B.V.
B. ACQUISITIONS: Purchase of Selecta’s ice cream business by Unilever; Purchase of FT Information (Philippines), Inc., (now known as Primark Philippines, Inc.) by Datastream International Limited from Pearson NV via share acquisition; Legal due diligence on the proposed acquisition by Ayala Land, Inc., of Camella and Palmera Homes (C&P); Legal due diligence on the proposed acquisition by Echostar Communications Corporation of H.T. Telesis, Inc.; Legal due diligence on the proposed acquisition by Echostar Communications Corporation of Pacific Cable and DTU Systems, Inc.; Legal due diligence on proposed acquisition by Autoliv AB (Sweden) of Philippine Izumi Corporation; Post acquisition legal audit on Chemphil Albright & Wilson Corporation for Rhodia; Purchase by Asea Brown Boveri, Inc. of the transmission, distribution and automation business of ABB Power, Inc., as a going concern.
C. MERGERS: Merger of Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems Philippines, Inc. with Siemens, Inc.
D. SPIN-OFFS: Spin-off of the Paper Division of PICOP Resources, Inc.
E. LISTING OF SHARES: Listing of Fastech shares in the Singapore Stock Exchange; Philippine consultant for listing of Ionics shares in the Singapore Stock Exchange;
F. OTHERS: Indirect Acquisition of Lintas Manila by Interpublic through the organization of a holding company capitalized through exchange of shares for control; Legal Audit of Siemens, Inc., and Siemens Power Operations, Inc, for the expansion of a power plant; Power Purchase Agreement between Island Power Corporation and National Power Corporation; Served as Legal Consultant to the Presidential Commission on Year 2000 Compliance; Conducted Y2K Legal Due Diligence on Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company; Acted as Y2K Legal Consultant for Pilipinas Shell, Goodyear, and Fuji Bank.
Our Immigration lawyers handle all types of emigration and immigration regulatory issues, and have represented many foreign clients and/or expatriate officers of client companies before the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID). Our services include:
(a) application for Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Visas including Work Visa Applications, Labor Permits, and Special Work Permits and Provisional Permits to Work;
(b) securing Interim Visas, Special Return Certificates, and Emigration Clearance Certificates, as well re-issuances;
(c) securing Alien Certificate of Registration, Certificate of Residence, and other emigration documents; and securing Special Type of Visas, e.g. Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Work Visa, Philippine Export Zone Authority Visa, Treaty Trader Visa, Investor’s Visa, Temporary Resident Visa, and Retiree’s Visa.
In conjunction with our litigation department, we have handled a number of citizenship and naturalization cases, the most notable of which is Ernesto S. Mercado vs. Eduardo Manzano and the Commission on Elections (26 May 1999). In this case involving dual citizenship and its effect on a political candidate’s qualifications for public office, the Supreme Court agreed with the firm’s legal argument the Constitution proscribed “dual allegiance” and not dual citizenship per se.
With extensive contacts in North America, Europe and Japan, our Intellectual Property Law Group is familiar with international treaties for the protection of intellectual property rights and Philippine intellectual property laws. Our work in this area includes:
a. all types of intellectual property registrations and applications – for patent, trademark, trade name, service marks and copyright; by special arrangement, we can handle the preparation of patent claims and application documents (the specification, claim, abstract and drawings);
b. original actions for protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, such as Opposition and Cancellation of Registration, and Interference actions, and suits for infringement and unfair competition, whether filed in the Philippine Intellectual Property Office, the Regional Trial Court or the Department of Trade and Industry’s Bureau of Legal Affairs, and appellate proceedings in the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court;
c. preparation and review of technology transfer agreements, as well as other forms of licensing and assignments of intellectual property rights.
Our firm’s IP department corresponds with several hundred patent attorneys all over the world, as well as with the patent departments of major corporations. We also advise Philippine and non-Philippine clients about the requirements of Philippine intellectual property laws, and have both initiated and defended against IPR enforcement actions.
We have an extensive practice in collective bargaining negotiations, strike contingency and strike handling, labor litigation arising from termination, wage claims, unfair labor practice acts and other employer-employee disputes – both trial and appellate (DOLE Regional Offices, National Labor Relations Commission, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court), assumption-of-jurisdiction cases, compulsory and voluntary arbitration, and certification election proceedings. We advise our corporate clients on labor standards, occupational health and safety, and labor relations issues, and have a team of lawyers who conduct labor and employment relations seminars for our clients’ managers. Our firm has also contributed to landmark Supreme Court cases on labor law, such as Meralco vs. Secretary of Labor, G.R. No. 127598, 31 Jan 1999; Philippine Airlines vs. Confesor, G.R. No. 11480, 10 Mar 1994; Shell Oil Workers Union vs. Shell Phils. Inc. G.R. No. 28607, 12 Feb 1972; and San Miguel Corporation Employees Union-PTGWO vs. Confesor, G.R. No. 11262, 19 September 1996. A sample of some of our recent work in the labor practice area includes:
a. CBA negotiations with the Rank and File, and Supervisory units of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (the Philippines’ largest telecommunications company);
b. CBA negotiations with the Rank and File, Sales Supervisors, and Supervisory units of various provincial plants of Coca-Cola Bottlers Phils. Inc. (the local franchisee of Coca-Cola);
c. Certification election proceedings of the Supervisory unit of San Miguel Foods Inc. (the Food Group subsidiary of the Philippines’ largest beverage and food manufacturer);
d. Certification election proceedings of the rank and file, and supervisory units of Coastal Subic Bay Terminal Inc. (a subsidiary of the United States’ Coastal Corp.);
e. Litigation at the DOLE Secretary-level in assumption cases over CBA deadlocks in the Pilipino Telephone Corporation (PILTEL – the cellular phone unit of PLDT), Bayan Telecommunications Corp., and the Sales Supervisors unit of PLDT;
f. CBA negotiations with the rank and file unit of Equitable-PCIBank (one of the country’s largest private banks);
g. CBA negotiations with the rank and file units of ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) Inc.;
h. Supreme Court litigation over CBA deadlock with the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO-the Philippines’ largest private power distributor) rank and file unit;
i. CBA negotiations with MERALCO’s rank and file unit.
A significant area of practice for our Commercial Real Estate Transactions group is in its dealings with industrial park developers and operators, and their locators. We have handled land registration and titling for these clients, and have dealt with environmental law and agrarian reform compliance issues involving the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). We have helped these clients and their locators secure appropriate incentives from the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA).
A strength of this practice group is in real estate transaction documentation. We ensure that the land transfer is covered by the appropriate documentation, and where lacking work to secure it. Thus, we have handled applications for registration of untitled land (the Philippines uses a Torrens system) before the Regional Trial Courts. Also, with well-researched knowledge on the various agrarian reform laws, we have worked on securing land conversions from the DAR and environmental compliance certifications from the DENR.
We have advised many clients on land transfers and their effects, and as part of the documentation process we have drafted various agreements which are intended to protect the client prior to the actual transaction (such as contracts to sell) and as part of the sale (real property sale or lease agreements, real estate mortgage documents). We follow through with post-transaction documentation when necessary, and have provided clients-property developers with draft Master Deeds, as well as legal services to organize a Condominium and/or Locator’s Association.
