Team size: 12

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Our legal team is heavily focused on land acquisition and development activities. We recently held a groundbreaking event for a township project that we will build in Tanauan City. This is a major project that involves serious due diligence, collaboration and negotiation with the local city government of Tanauan, landowners and stakeholders. We won several civil and criminal cases in the course of our land acquisition activities.

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

In-house lawyers carry with them not only their legal knowledge and expertise but also their character, reputation, and professional upbringing. I strongly believe that an organisation’s strategy on how to do business, the level of risk appetite, and its industry image and reputation are greatly influenced by in-house lawyers of the organisation, since in-house lawyers are always consulted prior to any major transaction.

As we live in a fast-paced world today, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

Flexibility in conducting work. The past years have proved there are a lot of innovative ways in which we can perform our duties and in conduct day-to-days tasks as in-house legal counsels. Gone are the days when traditional on-site work was the only norm for a productive workday. Now, we are aware of the available platforms that we can utilise to accomplish day-to-day tasks with the help of modern technology. As such, we should be able to adapt to the changing times so we can remain relevant and updated.

If existent, can you talk about you or your company’s efforts on renewability, sustainability or other environmentally friendly activities?

Our company promotes less use of paper by encouraging back-to-back printing and by recycling scratch papers. There is also a report which is cascaded within the organisation wherein each department’s carbon emission is monitored. All our office lights are sensor activated and will automatically turn off if no movement is detected. We start our environmental activities within our office space.