Lawyers
Our Experience
The firm’s lawyers have over 80 years of combined experience comprising legal practice in corporate and commercial work, civil, criminal and administrative litigation and dispute resolution, administrative regulation and compliance, in-house legal services, US immigration, Philippine expatriate registration and documentation, and tax remedies and recovery.
Whether a multi-purpose project involving power generation, irrigation, water sanitation and forest management or highways, ports and airports or telecommunications or transport, or criminal or civil litigation, tax representation, protests or refund, the firm’s lawyers are at home in providing no-nonsense legal representation, advocacy, and advice.
George Exiomo
Founder and Managing Partner
exiomo.legal@pm.me
admin@exiomolaw.com
Mr. Exiomo is the firm’s founder and managing partner. He has been practicing law since his admission to the bar in 1999, and leads the firm’s corporate and special projects. He was also admitted to the New York State bar in 2009. His experience comprises project development and financing, foreign direct investments, corporate structuring, infrastructure, privatization, construction, power, environment and natural resources, capital repatriation, contractual exits, competition, securities and property, expatriate immigration compliance and documentation, and land, succession and estate law. Mr. Exiomo was a senior partner at one of Manila’s biggest law firms where he led its admission into leading international law firm associations. He was the Philippine general counsel of US-based AES Corporation, where he led post-bid award and compliance, assisted heavily in the rehabilitation of its 600MW Masinloc Plant which won the Edison Award, and helped secure ground-breaking power supply agreements with Meralco and project re-financing. He was the chief legal counsel of the Philippines’ largest and trailblazing solar power company for several years, helping break paths and obstacles in renewable energy contracting, RE policy and market liberalization strategy, and helped secure from Congress the country’s first distributed generation franchise which paved the way for a general law on distributed generation. Mr. Exiomo was a senior associate and Registered Foreign Lawyer at Baker & McKenzie in Singapore in 2007-2008, and at SyCip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan from 2004 to 2007. He was a senior corporate counsel and presidential adviser at the National Power Corporation. He was an associate of the famed election lawyer Sixto Brillantes (later Commission on Elections chairman) and renowned constitutional law expert, Antonio Nachura (later Supreme Court Justice), at Brillantes’s law offices in Manila.
Mr. Exiomo is the firm’s founder and managing partner. He has been practicing law since 1999, and leads the firm’s corporate and special projects. He was also admitted to the New York State bar in 2009. His experience comprises project development and financing, foreign direct investments, corporate structuring, infrastructure, privatization, construction, power, environment and natural resources, capital repatriation, contractual exits, competition, securities and property, expatriate immigration compliance and documentation, and land law. Mr. Exiomo was a Senior Partner at DivinaLaw where he led its admission into leading international law firm associations. He was the Philippine general counsel of US-based AES Corporation, where he led post-bid award and compliance, assisted heavily in the rehabilitation of its 600MW Masinloc Plant which won the Edison Award, and helped secure ground-breaking power supply agreements with Meralco and project refinancing. He was the chief legal counsel of the Philippines’ largest and trailblazing solar power company for several years, helping break paths and obstacles in renewable energy contracting, RE policy and market liberalization strategy, and helped secure from Congress the country’s first distributed generation franchise which paved the way for a general law on distributed generation. Mr. Exiomo was a senior associate and Registered Foreign Lawyer at Baker & McKenzie in Singapore in 2007-2008, and at SyCip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan from 2004 to 2007. He was as a senior corporate counsel and presidential adviser at the National Power Corporation. After passing the bar examinations, he trained under the famed election lawyer Sixto Brillantes (later Commission on Elections chairman) and renowned constitutional law expert, Antonio Nachura (later Supreme Court Justice), at Brillantes’s law office.
Mr. Exiomo is on the law faculties of the De La Salle University, Lyceum University and Arellano University, and has, at various times, taught in other leading Filipino law schools including San Beda, Santo Tomas, and Saint Louis.
Education & Training
Columbia University (Master of Laws, 2004), Fulbright Scholar; Fellow of the Public Interest Law Foundation
San Beda College, (JD, 1998, Associate Editor, San Beda Law Journal, academic scholar)
Saint Louis University (AB Pol. Sc., cum laude, class salutatorian, editor, White and Blue)
Georgetown University Law Center (2003, Certificate in American Law and Education), Fulbright Scholar
National University of Singapore (2010, Corporate Executive Course for Emerging Leaders)
Languages
English, Pangasinan, Tagalog, Spanish, Ilokano
Mr. Hugo co-founded the firm. He has been practicing law for 23 years, the last 20 of which as an attorney in the United States. Prior to his admission to the New York bar, Mr. Hugo was a corporate and government lawyer in the Philippines. He has been practicing U.S. Immigration law in New York since 2004. Prior to emigrating to the United States, Mr. Hugo worked as an associate in the litigation department of Carpio, Villaraza & Cruz Law Offices in Makati City.
Mr. Hugo also served as an attorney at the Office of Chairman of the Commission on Elections of the Philippines, and as an executive director at the Department of Justice’s Office of Government Corporate Counsel. Mr. Hugo is the firm’s main liaison in the United States for Philippine law-related inquiries.
Admission to the Bar
2000, Philippines
2004, New York
Education & Training
Ateneo de Manila University (AB, 1996; JD, 2000)
Georgetown University Law Center (E-Discovery Training Academy)
New York University (Advanced Certificate in the Field of Strategy and Leadership)
US Department of Homeland Security FEMA Emergency Management Institute (IS00001 Emergency Program Manager Independent Study Course)
Languages
English, Pangasinan, Tagalog, Ilokano
Counsels
ERINNE ANN B. CALIMAG
Special Counsel
erinne@exiomolaw.com
Ms. Calimag is an accomplished professional, uniquely positioned at the intersection of law and finance. She has extensive experience as a seasoned lawyer and Certified Public Accountant, and excels in providing expert counsel in complex legal and financial matters. Ms. Calimag seamlessly integrates financial proficiency and business insights into her legal practice, which includes tax refunds, protests, pre-notification diagnoses, remedies, court representation, and negotiations and settlements with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and before the Court of Tax Appeals and other administrative bodies such as local assessors’ offices.
Ms. Calimag holds a Juris Doctor from Arellano University, and is currently pursuing her master’s degree at the University of the Philippines. She was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2011. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from St. Louis University in Baguio City, and has been a certified public accountant since 2002.
Mr. Fadol obtained his JD from the University of the Philippines College of Law where he was a member of the Philippine Law Journal staff. He also finished his bachelor’s degree in Political Science, cum laude, from the same university. Ian has attended various courses abroad and has obtained certificates from the Chuo Law School in Tokyo, and the University of Indonesia Faculty of Law in West Java. He was admitted to the Philippine bar in 2023.
Mr. Miguel obtained his JD from the San Beda College (Alabang) – School of Law. He obtained his pre-law degree in Communication Arts from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños. Prior to joining the firm, Victor was a corporate attorney for a management technology firm. He has also been for several years a corporate secretary and an assistant corporate secretary even prior to his admission to the bar for a couple of corporations. He was admitted to the Philippine bar in 2022.
Ms. Ongtenco’s experience comprises litigation and alternative dispute resolution, and has specialized work in insurance, competition enforcement, and intellectual property. She has also handled special projects in electronic payments, government bids and registration of start-ups in sunrise industries. She has represented clients in civil and administrative proceedings before various government agencies.
As a law student, Ms. Ongtenco represented her school in the Foreign Direct Investments Arbitration Moot in Seoul, South Korea in 2018; and in 2019, her team qualified for the global rounds in the same tournament in Miami. Ms.Ongtenco was admitted to the bar in 2022. She obtained her JD from the
De La Salle University and a B.S. Management degree, major in Communications Technology Management, from the Ateneo de Manila University.
Associates
AINGEL JOY A. DOMINGO
Associate
anj@exiomolaw.com
Ms. Domingo finished at the top of her law class at the Far Eastern University Institute of Law. She is one of the firm’s corporate and tax lawyers, providing representation and advisory work relating to deficiency tax assessments both at the administrative (BIR) and judicial (CTA) levels; claims for excise tax refund at the CTA; local business tax protests before local government units and the Regional Trial Courts; tax implications and treatments of various transactions; and applications for tax treaty relief applications or requests for confirmation at the BIR-ITAD. She also has experience in one-time taxable transactions such as in extrajudicial settlements, sales, and donations. Ms. Domingo assists in representation and advisory work relating to corporate governance matters i.e. regulatory compliance, corporate structuring, and dissolution, among other corporate legal services, and has also handled both criminal and civil cases before the regular trial courts.
Ms. Domingo is also a licensed pharmacist.
QUINA ANGELI IGNACIO
Associate
quina@exiomolaw.com
Ms. Ignacio is a member of the firm’s corporate, special projects and dispute resolution teams. She finished her Juris Doctor at the Ateneo Law School in 2020 and her bachelor of arts degree in history at the University of Sto. Tomas in 2016. Her experience includes litigation and dispute resolution, commercial contracts, corporate structuring, documentation and compliance, labor law, and administrative regulation.
Prior to her joining the firm, Ms. Ignacio was an associate at another Manila law firm, and before her admission to the bar, was a Court Decongestion Officer in a Regional Trial Court in Metro Manila, where she helped resolve cases, drafted decisions, and conducted legal research.
APRIL JAY TANO
Associate
aj.tano@exiomolaw.com
Ms. Tano is a member of the firm’s litigation department. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Tano served as a Court Decongestion Officer for the Regional Trial Courts in Cebu City, where she drafted court orders and decisions in an effort by the Supreme Court to reduce court docket congestion.
Prior to her working as a court decongestion officer, she worked as a paralegal while pursuing her legal studies. Her employment as a paralegal involved facilitating transactions with various government agencies, such as representing clients in National Labor Relations Commission – SENA (Single Entry Approach) proceedings, processing applications for Alien Employment Permits with the Department of Labor and Employment, and handling applications for 9(g) visas with the Bureau of Immigration, to name a few.
Ms. Tano passed Philippine bar exams of 2022. She holds a Juris Doctor from the University of San Jose – Recoletos, and a bachelor’s degree in management accounting, cum laude, from the same university. She is proficient in Bisaya, Tagalog, and English.
CABA LLANILLO & MENDOZA - Baguio Affiliate Office
Mr. Caba heads the Firm’s Baguio and Northern Luzon affiliate office. He has been practicing law for over 24 years, and is a leading litigation lawyer and counsellor in Baguio City and the Ilocos and Cordillera provinces. He specializes in civil, commercial, and criminal litigation, handling major cases for over 20 years, including capital offenses and major land disputes. Mr. Caba has in-depth knowledge of local legal and indigenous culture, is especially adept at handling tribal and indigenous people’s issues including ancestral land rights and claims, environmental and mineral issues and cross-tribal conflict resolutions that are outside the traditional norms and edicts of Philippine civil law but recognized and enforced under Philippine legislation and recent Supreme Court decisions.
Mr. Caba finished at the top of his class at Saint Louis University’s School of Law in Baguio City, graduating cum laude, the only one in his class to earn Latin honors.
Admission to the Bar
1999, Philippines
Education
Saint Louis University (JD, cum laude, 1998, AB Political Science, cum laude, 1994)
Languages
English, Tagalog, Ilokano
JASPER JUNE G. LLANILLO
Associate Lawyer
Special Counsel - Baguio
NORDELIZA B. MENDOZA
Associate Lawyer
Special Counsel - Baguio