Villaraza & Angangco (V&A Law)

Litigation and Dispute Resolution; Labor; International Commercial Arbitration

Senior Partner

With over fifteen years of litigation experience, Ms. Taguian has obtained expertise in intra-corporate disputes, corporate rehabilitation and international commercial arbitration. She is a PDRCI-Trained Arbitrator.

Having successfully obtained two consecutive favourable arbitral awards from the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC), with the aggregate amount of Php112 Million, for one of the largest construction companies in the Philippines, Ms. Taguian is emerging as one of the formidable lawyers in construction arbitration. Ms. Taguian is also representing Ayala Land Inc., the leading real estate developer in the Philippines, as well as its affiliates, in several ongoing cases.

She represented a very prominent foreign company before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre involving a multi-billion dollar claim against one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, and has successfully defended its directors and officers from non-bailable criminal charges.

Ms. Taguian successfully caused the recognition of one of the largest arbitral awards to be enforced in the Philippines which was issued by the International Chamber of Commerce, International Court of Arbitration in Paris, France in the amount of at least USD41 Million.

Ms. Taguian is instrumental in causing the dismissal of a half a billion peso claim against a client, which is subsidiary of a publicly-listed Hong Kong company.

Currently, she is representing one of the largest Retail Electricity Supplier in the country which intervened in a case pending before the Supreme Court which questioned the constitutionality of the issuances of the Department of Energy and Energy Regulatory Commission.

Having acted as legal counsel for one of the largest universal banking institutions in the Philippines, she also specializes in corporate rehabilitation, foreclosures and insolvency proceedings, having represented both foreign creditors and debtors in different proceedings. Her labor practice includes handling Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations and monitoring compliance of Business Process Outsourcing companies with labor standard laws.

Ms. Taguian’s clients include, among others, Ayala Land Inc., Makati Development Corporation, MDC Buildplus, Alveo Land, Bonifacio Gas Corporation, AC Energy Holdings Corp., CITRA Group, Mekatrade Asia Pte Ltd., LF (Philippines), Inc., Alliance Select Foods International, Inc., YGC Group of Companies and Tata Consultancy Services.

Filipino and English

She is a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Philippine Dispute Resolution Centre, Inc.

Ms. Taguian obtained her Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law in 2002 and was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Legal Management from Ateneo de Manila University in 1998.