Philippine Law MCP Server

Philippine Law MCP Server

The Chan Robles Virtual Law Library alternative for the AI age.

Query 11,663 Philippine statutes -- from the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173) and the Cybercrime Prevention Act (RA 10175) to the Revised Penal Code, the Labor Code, the 1987 Constitution, and more -- directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

If you're building legal tech, compliance tools, or doing Philippine legal research, this is your verified reference database.

Built by Ansvar Systems -- Stockholm, Sweden

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Why This Exists

Philippine legal research means navigating lawphil.net, the Chan Robles Virtual Law Library, the Official Gazette, and Supreme Court e-Library, then manually cross-referencing between Republic Acts, Presidential Decrees, and implementing rules. Whether you're:

• A lawyer validating citations in a brief or contract
• A compliance officer checking Data Privacy Act obligations or NPC advisories
• A legal tech developer building tools on Philippine law
• A researcher tracing legislative provisions across 11,663 statutes from 1946 to 2024

...you shouldn't need dozens of browser tabs and manual cross-referencing. Ask Claude. Get the exact provision. With context.

This MCP server makes Philippine law searchable, cross-referenceable, and AI-readable.

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Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

Connect directly to the hosted version -- zero dependencies, nothing to install.

Endpoint: https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-ph/mcp

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "philippine-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-ph/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot -- add to VS Code settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "philippine-law": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.ansvar.eu/law-ph/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use Locally (npm)

npx @ansvar/philippine-law-mcp

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "philippine-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/philippine-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "philippine-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/philippine-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

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Example Queries

Once connected, just ask naturally:

• "What does the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173) say about personal information controllers?"
• "Find provisions in the Revised Penal Code about cybercrime"
• "What does the Cybercrime Prevention Act (RA 10175) say about online libel?"
• "Search for labor rights under the Labor Code -- illegal dismissal provisions"
• "Ano ang sinasabi ng Saligang Batas ng 1987 tungkol sa karapatan ng mga manggagawa?" (What does the 1987 Constitution say about workers' rights?)
• "What are the penalties under RA 10175 for unauthorized access to computer systems?"
• "Validate the citation 'Section 16, RA 10173'"
• "Find provisions about corporate governance in the Revised Corporation Code (RA 11232)"
• "Search for consumer protection provisions in RA 7394 (Consumer Act of the Philippines)"
• "Build a legal stance on data breach notification requirements under Philippine law"

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What's Included

Verified data only -- every citation is validated against official sources (lawphil.net, officialgazette.gov.ph). Zero LLM-generated content.

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See It In Action

Why This Works

Verbatim Source Text (No LLM Processing):

• All statute text is ingested from lawphil.net and the Official Gazette of the Philippines
• Provisions are returned unchanged from SQLite FTS5 database rows
• Zero LLM summarization or paraphrasing -- the database contains regulation text, not AI interpretations

Smart Context Management:

• Search returns ranked provisions with BM25 scoring (safe for context)
• Provision retrieval gives exact text by RA number + section
• Cross-references help navigate without loading everything at once

Technical Architecture:

lawphil.net / Official Gazette --> Parse --> SQLite --> FTS5 snippet() --> MCP response
                                     ^                        ^
                              Provision parser         Verbatim database query

Traditional Research vs. This MCP

Traditional: Search lawphil.net -> Download HTML -> Ctrl+F -> Cross-reference with IRR -> Check NPC advisory -> Repeat

This MCP: "What are the complete obligations of a personal information controller under RA 10173 and the NPC implementing rules?" -> Done.

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Available Tools (13)

Core Legal Research Tools (8)

International Law Alignment Tools (5)

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International Law Alignment

The Philippines is not an EU member state. Philippine law draws from US common law traditions (civil procedure, constitutional structure) alongside a civil law heritage. International alignment is primarily through ASEAN frameworks, APEC, and bilateral agreements.

Key Philippine Statutes with International Alignment

1. RA 10173 (Data Privacy Act 2012) -- Aligned with APEC CBPR, informed by EU Directive 95/46/EC
2. RA 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act 2012) -- Budapest Convention on Cybercrime principles
3. RA 11232 (Revised Corporation Code 2019) -- OECD corporate governance principles
4. RA 8792 (E-Commerce Act 2000) -- UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce
5. RA 7394 (Consumer Act 1992) -- UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection principles

Note: The Philippines does not have an EU adequacy decision. Transfers of personal data from EU to Philippines require Standard Contractual Clauses or other GDPR Art. 46 safeguards. The NPC actively benchmarks RA 10173 against GDPR for adequacy purposes.

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Data Sources & Freshness

All content is sourced from authoritative Philippine legal databases:

• LawPhil Project -- Philippine Laws, Statutes, and Codes
• Official Gazette of the Philippines -- Official government publications
• Chan Robles Virtual Law Library -- Republic Acts archive

Data Provenance

Automated Freshness Checks (Daily)

A daily GitHub Actions workflow monitors all data sources:

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Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

See SECURITY.md for the full policy and vulnerability reporting.

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Important Disclaimers

Legal Advice

THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Statute text is sourced from lawphil.net and the Official Gazette. However:

• This is a research tool, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
• Court case coverage is not included -- do not rely solely on this for jurisprudence research
• Verify critical citations against primary sources for court filings
• Implementing rules and regulations (IRRs) are not included -- check NPC, BSP, SEC issuances
• International alignment reflects relationship analysis, not direct transposition

Before using professionally, read: DISCLAIMER.md | PRIVACY.md

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment. For guidance on professional obligations, consult the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). See PRIVACY.md for compliance guidance.

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Documentation

• International Alignment Guide -- ASEAN and international framework documentation
• Security Policy -- Vulnerability reporting and scanning details
• Disclaimer -- Legal disclaimers and professional use notices
• Privacy -- Client confidentiality and data handling

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Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/philippine-law-mcp
cd philippine-law-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Running Locally

npm run dev                                       # Start MCP server
npx @anthropic/mcp-inspector node dist/index.js   # Test with MCP Inspector

Data Management

npm run ingest                    # Ingest statutes from lawphil.net / Official Gazette
npm run build:db                  # Rebuild SQLite database
npm run drift:detect              # Run drift detection against anchors
npm run check-updates             # Check for amendments and new statutes
npm run census                    # Generate coverage census report

Performance

• Search Speed: <100ms for most FTS5 queries
• Database Size: ~146 MB (efficient, portable)
• Reliability: 100% ingestion success rate across 11,663 Republic Acts

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Related Projects: Complete Compliance Suite

This server is part of Ansvar's Compliance Suite -- MCP servers that work together for end-to-end compliance coverage:

@ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

Query 49 EU regulations directly from Claude -- GDPR, AI Act, DORA, NIS2, MiFID II, eIDAS, and more. Full regulatory text with article-level search. npx @ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/philippine-law-mcp (This Project)

Query 11,663 Philippine statutes directly from Claude -- Data Privacy Act, Cybercrime Prevention Act, Revised Penal Code, Labor Code, 1987 Constitution, and more. npx @ansvar/philippine-law-mcp

@ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

Query US federal and state compliance laws -- HIPAA, CCPA, SOX, GLBA, FERPA, and more. npx @ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/security-controls-mcp

Query 261 security frameworks -- ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, CIS Controls, SCF, and more. npx @ansvar/security-controls-mcp

@ansvar/sanctions-mcp

Offline-capable sanctions screening -- OFAC, EU, UN sanctions lists. pip install ansvar-sanctions-mcp

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Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Priority areas:

• Supreme Court case law expansion (e-Library)
• NPC advisory opinions and circular ingestion
• Implementing rules and regulations (IRRs) coverage
• Historical statute versions and amendment tracking

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Roadmap

• Core statute database with FTS5 search
• Full corpus ingestion (11,663 Republic Acts, 96,519 provisions)
• 1987 Constitution and Revised Penal Code included
• International law alignment tools
• Vercel Streamable HTTP deployment
• npm package publication
• Supreme Court case law expansion
• NPC advisory opinions and circulars
• Implementing rules and regulations (IRRs)
• Historical statute versions (amendment tracking)

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Citation

If you use this MCP server in academic research:

@software{philippine_law_mcp_2026,
  author = {Ansvar Systems AB},
  title = {Philippine Law MCP Server: Production-Grade Legal Research Tool},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/philippine-law-mcp},
  note = {11,663 Philippine Republic Acts with 96,519 provisions including the 1987 Constitution and Revised Penal Code}
}

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License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Data Licenses

• Statutes & Legislation: Official Gazette of the Philippines (public domain)
• Republic Acts: LawPhil Project (public domain -- Philippine government publications)

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About Ansvar Systems

We build AI-accelerated compliance and legal research tools for the global market. This MCP server started as our internal reference tool for Philippine law -- turns out everyone building compliance tools for Southeast Asia has the same research frustrations.

So we're open-sourcing it. Navigating 11,663 Republic Acts shouldn't require a law degree.

ansvar.eu -- Stockholm, Sweden

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