Mr. Valdecantos is a Senior Partner and the Head of the Firm’s Labor and Employment Department. He has specialized for twenty five years now in the different areas of labor and employment laws, which include labor litigation involving money claims and termination disputes, collective bargaining negotiations, preventive mediation and conciliation of labor disputes, strikes and lockouts, union representation issues, certification elections and voluntary arbitration cases.
He has successfully litigated a number of cases where the Supreme Court upheld the employer’s right to exercise its management prerogatives, including the enforcement of Company rules and regulations, the implementation of
contracting out arrangements, and the conduct of corporate reorganizations. He also handles social security cases, overseas employment cases, conduct of administrative investigations, employee grievances, formulation of employee
code of conduct and policies, conduct of labor audits, review and formulation of retirement plans, implementation of corporate mergers and acquisitions, incorporation of business entities, review of third party contracting arrangements,
and data privacy issues relating to employment.
Mr. Valdecantos has been consistently cited by leading legal publications as an excellent labor lawyer and litigator. In a Chambers Asia (Asia’s Leading Lawyers for Business) publication, he was commended for having the necessary skills to
assist with labor and employment matters. Clients point to his “proficiency and strategy” and consider him a valuable component of the practice. He was awarded successively as one of Asia’s Super 50 Disputes Lawyers for the years
2021 and 2022 by Asian Legal Business, and recognized as Employment Litigation Lawyer of the Year in the Philippines for 2020 and 2021 by Global Law Experts. He was also named as a Recommended Lawyer in the practice area of Labor and Employment by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2021 Editorial. And in June 2021, he was also awarded by the Asian Legal Business as one of the Philippines Client Choice Lawyers 2021.
He was one of the keynote speakers at the Asian Mena In-House Community E-Congress on “Labor and Employment: Returning to the Workplace: Philippine Protocols” held on 18 November 2020.
He co-authored “Trends and Developments: Special Issues in Philippine Employment Law” in Chambers and Partners Global Practice Guide, published on 8 September 2020. And recently, he wrote “The Employee’s Right to Receive or Refuse a Vaccine”, first published in Business World on 9 February 2021 and reprinted in other legal publications.
He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1998 and is a member of the Pasay-Paranaque-Las Pinas-Muntinlupa Chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.