SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan

Special Projects; Employment and Immigration

Easter Princess U. Castro is a partner in SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan. Her main practice areas include mergers and acquisitions, foreign investments, land acquisition and development, commercial leases, employment law, and immigration.

She also handles general corporate work. She acts as corporate secretary for several corporations, advises clients on regulatory requirements, and works on various corporate transactions.

Special Projects - Ms. Castro’s special projects include:

• Php12.6 Billion sale of five office buildings by a foreign private equity firm to a local conglomerate
• review of government contracts (e.g. concession agreement of operations and maintenance of a railway)
• investments in and divestments of businesses in various industries (e.g. cosmetics, insurance, advertising, financing, business process outsourcing, etc.)
• corporate restructuring and reorganization of businesses in various industries (e.g. mineral processing, mining, business process outsourcing, etc.)
• negotiation and review of commercial leases including build-to-suit arrangements.

Employment & Immigration – She counsels clients on employment-related issues, specifically industrial relations, collective bargaining, notice of strike, voluntary and compulsory arbitration, labor compliance audits, and labor litigation.

She has conducted workshops for clients on labor and industrial relations, labor standards, and disciplinary proceedings.

She regularly advises clients (e.g. an immigration consulting firm based in Singapore), on work permit and work visa requirements of their employees or clients.

She assisted in the preparation of a World Bank report on the immigration restrictions of its employees and their dependents in the Philippines.

She has also handled deportation cases.

Corporate Services – Ms. Castro acts as Corporate Secretary for companies in various industries (e.g. business process outsourcing, pharmaceutical, animal health, advertising, recruitment, sales, holding companies, etc.) and handles several corporate services work including forming local companies and establishing a business presence in the Philippines.

She was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2010.

Ms. Castro graduated from the University of the Philippines where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) and Juris Doctor (Dean's Medal).