Professional Documents
Culture Documents
They can attend mediation sessions with you. They will be expected to provide
legal assistance to you and the mediator in drafting the necessary papers. Your
lawyer must help you fully understand and appreciate the rules and process of
mediation. Ask them to explain the difference of litigation from mediation, the
advantages of the procedure, possible bargaining options, your role in the
process and likely alternatives to a negotiated agreement.
Your lawyer may take a little less active role in a mediation session than in a
courtroom. In mediation, you will take responsibility for making decisions.
But when matters in the discussion put you at a disadvantage and if the
mediator
does not seem to be doing enough to settle the imbalance, you will want your
lawyer to participate more actively. When necessary, your lawyer may even call
a recess to give you advice or suggestions in private.
Lawyers in mediation will also assist the mediator in putting into writing the
terms
of the compromise agreement or a withdrawal of the complaint or a satisfaction
of claim so that it may be approved by the trial court for judgment.
What is the judges role in mediation?
The pre-trial judge will rule on the compromise agreement you reached through
mediation. If court-annexed mediation fails in your case, the pretrial judge takes
on the role of conciliator, neutral evaluator and mediator.
The judge will sit down with counsel and their parties to hear a summary of the
case and will attempt to conciliate the differences between the parties. As a
neutral evaluator, the judge will be free to express his or her views on the
chances of each party in the case. At this point, if the parties agree to reconsider
and undergo mediation, the judge will facilitate the settlement as a mediator.
If the parties still refuse mediation, however, the judge will then issue an order
referring the case to another judge. The order will specify that both courtannexed
mediation and JDR have failed.
Im not very good at confrontations or talking about my case. What if I cant
express
myself? Can someone else speak on my behalf?
While individual parties are encouraged to personally appear in mediation
proceedings, you can still authorize a representative to speak for you, whether
its your spouse, sibling, doctor, friend, daughter, son or lawyer. But they must
be fully authorized to appear, negotiate and enter into a compromise by a
Special
Power of Attorney.
My case involves children. Do they have to attend mediation sessions?
Children are not required to attend the mediation sessions, because they
normally are represented by their parents. However, if the resolution of the case
would require a consultation with minor children, then they may be allowed in
the
mediation session.
Can mediation take place even if there are instances of wife beating and other
forms of
domestic violence?
You have to inform the mediator immediately if there are such incidents of
domestic violence in your case. In these instances, the case has to be sent back
to court for trial, due to the disadvantage of the woman in such a relationship.
Can a corporation just send their lawyer to the mediation?
A corporation, through a board resolution, must fully authorize their
representative to appear, negotiate and enter into a compromise.
Can one complain against their mediator if he or she does not seem to be doing
a good
job?
You can report the incident to the PMC coordinator or file a complaint against a
mediator to a threemember Grievance Committee, composed of a member of
the
PHILJA ADR Subcommittee, a Supervisor and a Mediator; and appointed by the
PHILJA Chancellor.
During the investigation, the mediator concerned may be placed in preventive
suspension. The Supreme Court has the discretion to impose additional and
appropriate penalties against the erring mediator depending on the severity of
the action.
MEDIATION IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
What is Appellate Court Mediation?
Mediation is the process of resolving disputes with the help of a neutral third
party (mediator) to reach a settlement that is mutually acceptable to all parties.
Appellate Court Mediation (ACM) is a mediation program in the Court of Appeals
(CA), corollary to Court-Annexed Mediation in the lower courts. It provides a
conciliatory approach in conflict resolution. Through ACM, the CA promotes a
paradigm shift in resolving disputes from a rights-based (judicial) to an
interestbased
(mediation) process.
How is Appellate Court Mediation different from Court-Annexed Mediation or
Judicial
Dispute Resolution?
In Court-Annexed Mediation, a case eligible for mediation at a First Level Court
or Regional Trial Court during the pre-trial stage is referred by the presiding
judge to the Philippine Mediation Center (PMC) Unit for mediation. Mediation is
successful if the parties enter into a Compromise Agreement, and the judge
renders a decision based on this agreement. If it fails or the parties refuse to
undergo mediation, the case goes back to court for trial.
In Judicial Dispute Resolution under the JURIS Project, the mediation process is
also in the lower courts and mediation is conducted just like in Court- Annexed
Mediation. If mediation fails or the parties refuse mediation, the case goes back
to the judge who does not yet try the case. The judge, acting sequentially as
Conciliator, Neutral Evaluator and Mediator or a combination of the three,
attempts to convince the parties to settle their case amicably. If the parties still
refuse to settle, the case goes back to court for trial.
In Appellate Court Mediation, the case has been tried and judgment has been
rendered at the lower courts but has been appealed to the Court of Appeals (CA).
Thus, Party A already won the case in the lower courts but Party B appealed the
decision to the CA.
What are the benefits of Appellate Court Mediation?
For the judiciary, Appellate Court Mediation, as part of the Supreme Courts
Action Program for Judicial Reform (APJR), aims to reduce the congestion of court
dockets. A review of pre-ACM court statistics shows that although the disposal
rate is high at 98.5 percent, the number of cases added to the backlog grows at
an annual rate of 58 percent. Mediation offers a promising solution to lessening
this backlog.
For litigants, after mediation has failed in the lower courts, Appellate Court
Mediation provides an added option to put an end to costly and long-drawn
litigation. Since mediation is a non-adversarial approach to resolving a case in
court, it facilitates the interest-based settlement of the dispute through proposals
coming from the parties themselves or suggested by the mediator and accepted
by the parties.
Mediation helps litigants settle their dispute and rebuild their relationship. It is a
win-win solution for both parties.
When and how did implementation of ACM start?
The Supreme Court authorized the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) to
pilottest
the mediation program in the Court of Appeals on April 16, 2002. The pilot
ACM Project ran for almost three months from September 16 to November 22,
2002, with a success rate of 67 percent.
Thirty-one appellate court mediators from the ranks of retired justices and
judges, senior members of the Bar, and senior professors of law participated in
the orientation workshop conducted by experts from the Philippines and
Singapore.
The Supreme Court approved the institutionalization of Appellate Court Mediation
(ACM) on March 23, 2004 following the successful pilot-test. It also approved the
Revised Guidelines for the Implementation of Mediation in the Court of Appeals
to
provide the legal framework.
From 2004 to 2006, PHILJA went on to recruit and train a core of mediation
faculty from ADR practitioners and the academe; revised the training curriculum
and materials to make them more relevant to the Philippine setting; developed
case study materials from actual cases; trained a new batch of 51 mediators for
the Court of Appeals; capped their training with an internship program that
required each mediator to handle at least two ongoing cases; formally launched
the CA Mediation Center at the ground floor of the CA Annex Building; and finally
developed a Mediation Training Manual for the Court of Appeals. The Project
Director who supervised this project was Professor Alfredo F. Tadiar.
What organizations are helping implement the ACM Program?
There are six institutions working together to implement the mediation process
in
the Court of Appeals.
THE COURT OF APPEALS (CA)
Selects and refers cases and other documents or information for mediation.
PHILIPPINEJUDICIAL ACADEMY (PHILJA)
Oversees the training program of appellate court mediators and assigns a PMC
(CA) coordinator to oversee the operations of a PMC (CA) office, among other
responsibilities.
PHILIPPINE MEDIATION CENTER-CA
Helps facilitate successful mediation by providing administrative and operational
support services.
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICEOF THESUPREME COURT (SC-PIO)
Assists in the in formation, education and communication campaign program of
the project.
INTEGRATED BAR OF THEPHILIPPINES (IBP)
Collaborates with PHILJA in its mediation advocacy and assists in the disciplinary
actions for erring mediators.
PHILIPPINE ASSOCIATION OF LAW SCHOOLS (PALS)
Includes Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) courses (including Mediation) and
negotiating skills in the curriculum and re-orients law professors and students on
legal aid.
Are all cases elevated to the Court of Appeals eligible for Appellate Court
Mediation?
No. Only the following cases elevated to the Court of Appeals are eligible for
Appellate Court Mediation: