Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia

Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department

•Head, Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department •Deputy Managing Partner (Personnel) •Senior Partner

Mr. Cruz heads our Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department. He has extensive experience in commercial & corporate litigation, tax litigation, insolvency and corporate rehabilitation proceedings, regulatory enforcement cases, election cases, and the prosecution and defense of white-collar crimes. He also engages in public policy litigation.

He has a successful career in litigation having represented a wide range of clients including some of the country’s leading companies. He currently represents several industry-wide organizations involved in agriculture, aviation and shipping handling strategic matters that have a substantial impact on their operations. He  earned recognition for his outstanding performance in the oral arguments before the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Anti-Cybercrime Law, as lead counsel for the Philippine Bar Association (PBA).

He has led teams that successfully obtained rare unanimous decisions and rulings from the Supreme Court (En Banc) in favor of the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr. Cruz previously served as Undersecretary of the Department of National Defense and successfully negotiated bilateral and multilateral treaties and executive agreements. He gained extensive experience in constitutional and administrative law, government contracts and public policy development while serving as Undersecretary in the Office of the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, where he rendered legal advice on policy issues, drafted key presidential issuances, coordinated public policy litigation and international arbitration, and vetted appointments to the Judiciary.

English, Filipino

Mr. Cruz is a past President of the Philippine Bar Association, the oldest voluntary national organization of lawyers in the Philippines. He was a Senior Fellow of the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies and a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Mr. Cruz occasionally lectures and writes papers on a variety of legal, security and strategic issues. He currently lectures on Tort Law at the DLSU College of Law. He has served as a member of the Board of Visitors of the Philippine Military Academy and as a member of the Board of Advisers of the Philippine Navy. He was also an officer of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. Mr. Cruz remains a Trustee of the Philippine Bar Association.

Mr. Cruz earned his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1992. Graduating among the top ten of his class, he was also in the editorial board of the Philippine Law Journal and the varsity debating and basketball teams. Mr. Cruz also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, graduating cum laude from the same university in 1987. He was a recipient of the British Chevening Scholarship from the UK Embassy and the British Council, an award he declined, to continue his public service in 2004.

Mr. Cruz restores vintage cars as a hobby and plays the acoustic guitar with his children.