The Philippines successfully hosted the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) Asia Pacific Week (APW) Manila 2022 last 18 to 20 October at the Makati Diamond Residences, Manila. The conference brought together some 250 international law experts and practitioners from the public and private sectors, and the academe across the Asia Pacific region. Another 200 participants also joined online the APW through the Zoom platform.

With the theme “Enabling Cross-Border Cooperation in the Region and Beyond,” the three-day conference provided participants a unique opportunity to learn more about the HCCH and its work while exchanging regional experiences and perspectives through the ten immersive sessions covering topics across three main areas: International Family and Child Protection Law, Transnational Litigation and Apostille, International Commercial, Digital, and Financial Law.

In his keynote address, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo underscored the significance to the country’s efficient administrative and adjudicative system of the adoption of key HCCH conventions in facilitating cross-border transactions, processes and enforcement of decisions or judgments.

Dr. Christophe Bernasconi, HCCH Secretary General, conveyed his appreciation to the Philippines for hosting the APW Manila 2022 and thereby contributing in sharing awareness to the Asia Pacific legal community the important work of the HCCH.

Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo meanwhile reaffirmed the Philippines’ commitment to supporting HCCH conventions. “To date, the Philippines is the only country in Asia which has ratified the Child Support Convention…The Philippines remains committed to supporting HCCH conventions that are aligned with our foreign policy and which are beneficial to our people.”

Presenting the Philippine perspective on the benefits of HCCH membership and its key conventions, Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya noted that “when adopting the best practices embodied in the HCCH Conventions, the Philippines and other Contracting Parties can promote their rule of law domestically and internationally and also enhance economic development.” Ambassador Malaya likewise recommended for the Philippines to also consider becoming party to the HCCH Child Protection Convention and the HCCH Evidence Convention.

Also sharing regional experiences at the conference were international law experts from across the Asia Pacific region and beyond: Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Viet Nam, Mongolia, Israel, New Zealand and the United States of America. Together they presented the value of developing legal frameworks to facilitate international mobility, transactions, and dispute resolution for individuals, for families, and companies across the globe.

As a fitting way to conclude the conference, HCCH Secretary General Bernasconi together with Professor Sedfrey Candelaria, Vice Chairperson of the Philippine Judicial Academy facilitated the closing plenary whereby participants adopted a strong concluding statement which, among others, recognised that HCCH Conventions and Instruments offer effective multilateral solutions to private international law problems, with proven international standards that are widely accepted, respect diversity of legal traditions, and enable the use of technology to enhance their operation.

The participants likewise commended the Republic of the Philippines for its generous support in hosting HCCH Asia Pacific Week Manila 2022 and invited other States throughout Asia and the Pacific to consider hosting HCCH Asia Pacific Week 2023.

Before the conference was formally closed, the Philippine Bar Association (PBA) which is the country’s oldest voluntary national organization of practicing l lawyers, read its statement of support for the work of the HCCH and urged the Philippine accession to the Evidence Convention. The group noted that accession will help address “the complexities of litigation in the Philippines where party litigants and witnesses are already located abroad, affected by the diaspora of more than ten million overseas Filipinos and the greater mobility and interconnectivity resulting from globalization.”

Secretary General Bernasconi also had meetings on the sidelines of the conference with Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Manalo, Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Chief Justice Gesmundo and the justices of the Supreme Court. He also had a lunch meeting with officials of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the PBA, and the Philippine Institute of Arbitrators. He also addressed the law students and faculty members at a symposium at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law. He concluded said visit with a ceremonial signing of a Cooperation Agreement with the law school.

The HCCH APW Manila 2022 was organized in close coordination of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Philippine Judicial Academy, UP College of Law, the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) and the Embassy of the Philippines in The Hague.

The last HCCH APW was hosted by the Republic of Korea in Seoul in July 2017. The Philippines also hosted the same which was then called the Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Manila in October 2011.

For over 125 years, the HCCH has been a respected forum for effective multilateralism, bringing nations together to develop legal frameworks designed to facilitate international mobility, transactions, and dispute resolution for individuals, families, and companies across the globe.

The Philippines became a Member of the HCCH in 2010. Out of the 39 HCCH Conventions, the Philippines is a Contracting State to five, namely: the Intercountry Adoption Convention, Child Abduction Convention, Apostille Convention, Service Convention, and most recently, the Child Support Convention.

For more information on the HCCH, please visit https://www.hcch.net/en/home. // END