Mr. Valdecantos is a Senior Partner in the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW) and is the Head of the Firm’s Labor and Employment Department. He has specialized for twenty-seven (27) years now in 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.
He has been consistently cited by leading legal publications as an excellent labor lawyer and litigator. He was awarded the Labor and Employment Lawyer of the Year in the Philippines by Leaders in Law – Global Awards 2023. Chambers Asia Pacific has commended him for having “proficiency and strategy” and has recognized him as a leading practitioner for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024.
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, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Global Law Experts. He was also named 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. Other recognitions came from Acquisition International (as a Leading Adviser) and Advisory Excellence (as Leading Expert for Labor and Employment in the Philippines). He was also invited to be featured in the “The 10 Most Admired Business Leaders to Follow in 2024” by the Success Pitchers Magazine.
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 is currently a guest faculty of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) where he teaches “Fundamentals of Labor Relations” for the HR Manager Development Program course.
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 Chambers & Partners Law and Practice – Employment Guide 2023 Philippines, published in August 2023. 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 graduated as a College Scholar from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Journalism in 1993. He then obtained his law degree from the San Beda College of Law in 1997, where he graduated among the top of his class.