Nilo Divina (born February 20, 1965) is a Filipino lawyer, professor, author, and educational administrator. He is the founding and managing partner of Divina Law, a law firm in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

based in

Makati Makati ( ), officially the City of Makati ( fil, Lungsod ng Makati), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines; it has the highest concentration ...

. He is a former President of the Philippine Association of Law Schools. In September 2021, Divina was named one of the top 100 lawyers in the Philippines by the Asia Business Law Journal. He was also named Managing Partner of the Year in the 2021 Asian Legal Business (ALB) Philippine Law Awards held in November 2021. In 2022, Divina was named Outstanding Thomasian Alumni for Law and Justice in the University of Santo Tomas' The Outstanding Thomasian Alumni (TOTAL) Awards. He was also named Executive of the Year for the Legal Industries in the 19th Annual International Business Awards.

Education

Divina is an alumnus of the

University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters The University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters, popularly known as "UST Artlets" or "UST AB", is the liberal arts school of the University of Santo Tomas, the oldest and the largest Catholic university in Manila, Philippines.Ambeth Oca ...

, graduating Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Science with honors in 1985. He pursued law at the

University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law The University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law or "UST Law" (as distinguished from the Faculty of Canon Law) is a law school in Manila, Philippines. It is administered under the jurisdiction of the University of Santo Tomas, the oldest and t ...

and graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

as valedictorian in 1989.

Career

Divina started as Clerk of Court at a

Regional Trial Court The Regional Trial Courts ( fil, Panrehiyong Hukuman sa Paglilitis) are the highest trial courts in the Philippines. In criminal matters, they have original jurisdiction. History It was formerly called as the Court of First Instance since the ...

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the ...

. In 1992, he became an associate attorney at Misa, Castro, and Associates. He was also appointed at corporate secretary of the

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO, fil, Tanggapan sa Charity Sweepstakes ng Pilipinas) is a government-owned and controlled corporation of the Philippines under direct supervision of the Office of the President of the Philippines. ...

, and was promoted into General Manager and Chief Legal Adviser. In 1993, Divina started consultancy services for

Equitable PCI Bank Equitable PCI Bank, Inc. () was one of the largest banks in the Philippines, being the third-largest bank in terms of assets. It was the largest bank before it was overtaken by Metrobank in 1995. It is the result of the merger of Equitable Bankin ...

he was ultimately promoted as executive vice president, corporate secretary, and general counsel. In 2006, Divina and another lawyer named Edwin Uy established a law firm in Makati, Philippines that would eventually be known as Divina Law Offices. From 5 lawyers when it started, the firm now has more than 80 lawyers, including those included in the list of Philippines' Top 100 Lawyers by the Asia Business Law Journal. Under Divina's leadership, the firm has been receiving many accolades. In 2021, Divina Law Offices was named a top law firm in the banking, litigation, and restructuring and insolvency in the Philippines Law Firm Awards by the Asia Business Law Journal. In 2022, the firm received a Silver Anvil Award in the 57th Anvil Awards by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines. Divina's law firm celebrated its 16th anniversary in April 2022. It has over 800 clients and handles almost 4,000 cases. He authored the law textbook "''Handbook on Philippine Commercial Law''", "''Questions & Answers on the Revised Corporation Code''", and "''Divina on Commercial Law: A Comprehensive Guide''" (Volumes 1 and 2). He was also part of the board of directors of the

United Coconut Planters Bank The United Coconut Planters Bank, more popularly known by its initials, UCPB, or by its old name, Cocobank, was a government-controlled and was one of the largest banks in the Philippines, ranking within the top twenty banks in the country in ...

. He was appointed dean of the

in 2009, succeeding Roberto A. Abad who was appointed by then President

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House Deputy Spe ...

into the

Supreme Court of the Philippines The Supreme Court ( fil, Kataas-taasang Hukuman; colloquially referred to as the ''Korte Suprema'' lso used in formal writing is the highest court in the Philippines. The Supreme Court was established by the Second Philippine Commission on Ju ...

as Associate Justice. In 2023, Divina opened a restaurant called Café Aurora in Makati City with chefs Nicco Santos and Quenee Vilar as partners.

Issues

UST Hospital tax case

UST Hospital was audited and it was discovered that there was a failure to disclose more than P700 million pesos income in 2006. Divina was the lawyer for UST Hospital when the

Court of Tax Appeals of the Philippines The Court of Tax Appeals ( fil, Hukuman ng Apelasyon sa Buwis) is the special court of limited jurisdiction, and has the same level with the Court of Appeals. The court consists of 8 Associate Justices and 1 Presiding Justice. The Court of Tax ...

ruled against the

Bureau of Internal Revenue (Philippines) The Bureau of Internal Revenue'' ''( fil, Kawanihan ng Rentas Internas, or BIR) is a revenue service for the Philippine government, which is responsible for collecting more than half of the total revenues of the government. It is an agency of ...

on a case involving P171.5 million in income tax and a compromise penalty of P56,000. The win of the UST hospital was due to a technicality of jurisdiction where tax assessment is invalidated because the "letter of authority" issued by the tax bureau to open the hospital's books in 2007 came from BIR Manila Region 6, but the hospital is already under the jurisdiction of the tax bureau's "Large Taxpayers Services" based in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

Andres Bautista case

In 2017, Philippine polls officer Andres Bautista's estranged wife pointed that Bautista is involved in corrupt practices as chairperson of the

Presidential Commission on Good Government The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is a quasi-judicial government agency of the Philippines whose primary mandate is to recover the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by Ferdinand Marcos, his immediate family, relatives, subordin ...

, claiming that Bautista received commissions from Divina for helping the latter's clients with the

Commission on Elections (Philippines) The Commission on Elections ( fil, Komisyon sa Halalan), abbreviated as , is one of the three constitutional commissions of the Philippines. Its principal role is to enforce all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of elections in the P ...

. Patricia Bautista called for Divina's disbarment. Divina countered the accusations by filing perjury and libel cases against Patricia Bautista and her lawyer Lorna Kapunan.

Horacio Castillo case

In 2018, Horacio Castillo, III, a law student of the

was killed due to hazing. The fraternity Castillo was applying for is the same fraternity that Divina was a member of. He was summoned into a

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

inquiry, where the line of questioning pertained to his alleged tolerance of hazing in the university, and for supposedly failing to stop the fraternity, Aegis Juris, from performing the illegal act. However, the

Department of Justice (Philippines) The Department of Justice ( fil, Kagawaran ng Katarungan, abbreviated as DOJ) is under the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for upholding the rule of law in the Philippines. It is the government's principal law agenc ...

did not find him criminally liable for the incident.

Kris Aquino case

Divina was among the lawyers of

Kris Aquino Kristina Bernadette Cojuangco Aquino (born February 14, 1971), professionally known as Kris Aquino (), is a Filipino television host, actress, producer, socialite and businesswoman. Dubbed as Philippine's "Queen of All Media", Aquino has hos ...

for a case against Aquino's former staff, Nicko Falcis, whom she has accused of stealing P1,270,980.31 charged using the credit card of Aquino's entertainment production company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Divina, Nilo 1965 births Living people 20th-century Filipino lawyers 21st-century Filipino lawyers University of Santo Tomas alumni 21st-century Filipino writers 21st-century Filipino educators Academic staff of the University of Santo Tomas