Javier, Kenneth John T.

2-D
ADR
The Evolution of Arbitration in the Philippines

The Philippine congress enacted the first arbitration law that provides for a
complete procedure for the settlement of disputes of parties through arbitration.
However, there are some flaws in its provisions because it’s too broad and fail to satisfy
the standards of arbitration systems.
The Congress approved the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 2004 that
provides a more comprehensive, updated set of rules to govern alternative dispute
resolution in the country, and has paved the way to making ADR a more viable option
for resolving disputes.
This article aims to show how the parties given the opportunities to resolve their
dispute out of court. This article also declares to actively promote party autonomy in the
resolution of disputes or the freedom of the parties to make their own arrangements to
resolve their disputes and with the greatest cooperation of the least intervention from
the court. In addition it also preserve the court’s power of judicial review over ADR
proceedings that court shall intervene only in the cases allowed by law or Special ADR
Rules.
 Javier, Kenneth John T.
2-D
ADR

Arbitration Autonomy Principles in the Philippine Jurisprudence

In the Philippines, arbitration is one of the means relied upon by contracting

parties to resolve contractual disputes involving the provisions of their contractual
agreement. However, Arbitration is not limited to domestic application as there are
international bodies for dispute settlement.
In this article, it clearly states that the recognition of arbitral autonomy was
ignored by the Supreme Court in the PIATCO case, where it stressed the supremacy of
the Judiciary over other bodies for resolving disputes arising from contractual relations,
notwithstanding the existence of an arbitration agreement. Moreover, the implications of
such kind of contractual relationship bring to the fore issues regarding state sovereignty
on commercial practice in the Philippines
The Author also expressly states that contracting party must not be deprived of
its right to avail of arbitral proceedings pursuant to a valid and binding agreement and
the very purpose of an arbitral agreement is to avoid the unnecessary danger that a
contractual dispute might be submitted to a forum that is hostile to the interest of one of
the parties.