Romulo

Romulo, Mabanta, Buenaventura, Sayoc & De Los Angeles traces its roots to the law firm of Gibbs, McDonough and Ozaeta which practices law in the Philippines in the early 1990s. Alison D. Gibbs was a well-known tax and corporate lawyer and Charles A. McDonough was a name in criminal law practice. Roman A. Ozaeta later became a distinguished Justice of the Supreme Court, and his son, Herminio, an outstanding corporate lawyer in his own right, reconstituted the firm in 1957. The firm underwent several name changes because of a rule that limited the partnership name to living and active partners (which rules was subsequently abolished), and eventually evolved into its present name.

The current senior partners are: Ricardo J. Romulo, Roman Mabanta, Jr., Jose F. Buenaventura, Jesus S.J. Sayoc and Eduardo de los Angeles. Mr. de los Angeles, after assuming the presidency of the Philippine Stock Exchange for three years, has resumed the practice of law in the firm. One partner, Exequiel B. Javier, is on leave on account of having been elected for the fourth time as a member of the Philippine Congress. In his previous term, Cong. Javier served as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives. In addition, Mr. Gabriel C. Singson, former Philippine Central Bank Governor, is an Of Counsel of the firm. The firm presently has 68 lawyers.

The firm has an office in Hong Kong, the only Philippine firm of attorneys with a presence there. It provides international investors advice on Philippine law and Philippine clients on international transactions. However, it is not permitted to practice 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 about 151 independent law firms.

The firm engages in the general practice of law, but its members individually specialize in particular areas of law. A majority of the lawyers have received training and graduate degrees from universities abroad. All of them speak English fluently. Some of them also speak Chinese, Spanish and Japanese.

Legal expertise is available on admiralty and aviation; alternative dispute resolution and international arbitration; banking, trusts, private and corporate banking and loan syndication; corporate and commercial laws, including incorporation, joint ventures, corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions and bankruptcy, energy and infrastructure, including oil and gas, mining, power, water, telecommunication, railways, airports, airlines, ports, industrial estates, project financing and structuring, build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangements and variants and privatization works; environmental laws, finance, including corporate finance, structured financing, trade financing and dealings with export credit agencies and multilateral and bilateral financial institutions; foreign grant of incentives and establishment of regional headquarters for multinational companies; immigration; insurance; intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and technology transfer; labor, including dispute mediation process and collective bargaining agreements; litigation, including civil, commercial, administrative and criminal cases; securities including public offerings of debt and equity issues, asset securitization, derivatives, private placements, mutual funds, privatization of government-owned corporations and capital market development; and taxation, including tax compliance audits, local and international tax and estate planning.

Contact:

Michael G. Aguinaldo

Tel: (632) 849 2239

E-mail: michael@rmbsa.com

Perry L. Pe

Tel: (632) 848 0114

E-mail: pe@rmbsa.com