Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko, head of SyCipLaw’s Litigation Department, recently gave the Welcome Remarks for the 1st Annual Center for the Amicable Resolution of Disputes International Conference held last February 9, 2018 at The Bayleaf Intramuros in Manila, Philippines. The conference was jointly organized by the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) and the Philippine Institute of Arbitrators (PIArb), of which Mr. Ongkiko was the immediate past President and presently Chairman.

The conference was held primarily for the formal launching of the LPU-PIArb Center for the Amicable Resolution of Disputes (CARD) with special guest the Hon. J. Prospero E. De Vera III, OIC and senior commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education, as well as the faculty presentation of the Master of Arts Program, with specialization in Dispute Resolution, by the CARD Director Teodoro Kalaw IV. The Master of Arts Program will be the first of its kind in the Philippines and will be offered by the LPU, with faculty primarily coming from the PIArb, in the next school year.

Mr. Ongkiko then joined the Panel Discussion on “Third Party Funding in Arbitration—Prospects in the Philippines”, with former Solicitor General Simeon V. Marcelo, CARD Faculty Rena Morelos Rico-Pamfilo, and Manuel P. Bautista, Jr. of King & Spalding Singapore.

The Philippine Keynote Speech was delivered by the Hon. J. Andres B. Reyes, Associate Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, entitled “Facilitating Justice Reform Thru Complementary Public and Private Dispute Resolution”, while the International Keynote Speech was delivered by Prof. Anselmo Reyes, International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court, entitled “Developments in International Commercial Arbitration".

Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (East Asia Branch) and a member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration.  He is also a Trustee and Assistant Corporate Secretary of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRC), a Trustee of the Philippine Institute of Construction Arbitrators and Mediators, Inc., and a Member of the Singapore International Arbitration Center Users Council.

He is an accredited arbitrator of the PIArb, PDRC, the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, and the Philippine Wholesale Electricity Spot Market. He is also an accredited arbitrator of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (now, Asian International Arbitration Centre), the Vienna International Arbitral Centre, the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, and the National Arbitration and Mediation (New York).