Litigation lawyers in Cebu City and across the Philippines.

One year. The Supreme Court has held that cyber libel prescribes in one year, running from discovery by the offended party or the authorities, and in doing so it abandoned the longer period that had been applied before. Older material still states the longer period. If this concerns you, treat it as urgent.

It is the same crime, committed by a different means. The law defines it as libel under the Revised Penal Code committed through a computer system, so the elements are the elements of libel. The penalty is different: where an offense is committed through information and communications technology, the penalty imposed is one degree higher than the Code provides.

Quickly. A protection order is meant to stop further violence and to grant other relief, and it comes in three forms. A barangay protection order is issued by the Punong Barangay and runs for fifteen days. A temporary protection order is issued by a court and runs for thirty days, with a hearing set before it expires for a permanent one. The petition does not have to be filed by the person harmed: parents, guardians, and certain relatives may file it too. If this is your situation, treat it as urgent.

Usually a preliminary investigation, where the prosecutor decides whether there is enough evidence to charge you at all. That is the stage at which a case is most cheaply stopped. If you were arrested without a warrant, there is an inquest instead, which moves in hours. What you file at either stage shapes everything after it, so this is the moment to be represented.

Sometimes not, and we say so. Before anything is filed we assess the position, what can be proved as distinct from what you know to be true, the likely cost, and how long it will take. Some of those assessments end with us advising you not to file.

Often. A properly drafted demand letter settles many matters, and some disputes have to go through barangay conciliation before a court will hear them at all. We will tell you which route your dispute has to take and whether the informal one is worth the time.

The options depend on the amount and on how the debt is evidenced. Smaller claims run on a simplified procedure without lawyers appearing, a dishonored check opens a criminal route as well as a civil one, and an ordinary collection suit is the slowest of the three. We work out which is open to you before drafting anything.

It depends on the court’s docket, on whether the other side contests, and on appeals, none of which we control, so we give you a range and say what would move it. We agree the scope and the fee in writing before any work starts.

Not necessarily, but appeal periods are short and a missed one cannot be recovered. The first thing to establish is the deadline and whether it has already started running. Bring us the order and the date you received it.