SC’S MEDIATION PROGRAM HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL

This refers to Chin Chin Katigbak’s letter titled “Weak mediation rules” (Opinion, 4/8/17). We wish to clarify that the Supreme Court’s court-annexed mediation (CAM) program, introduced in 2001, has achieved a remarkable success rate of 62 percent, one of the highest in Asia. The rules are also clear that the period for CAM should not exceed 30 days, although the parties may ask the court for a 30-day extension. Our records nonetheless show that in the National Capital Judicial Region alone, 66 percent of the civil aspects of criminal cases referred to mediation in 2016 were settled within 15 days only. This shows that the CAM program is working to help the courts in achieving prompt resolution of disputes and in declogging its dockets.

A major feature of CAM is that it is interestbased, which means that, beyond legal rights and evidentiary rules considered in adjudication (the merits of the case), mediation looks at the parties’ substantive, procedural and psychological interests that are often masked by their legal demands and positions. In many cases, mediation also results in the restoration of relationships among the parties. Here lies the beauty of mediation.

Notwithstanding this success, the Supreme Court’s Philippine Judicial Academy-Philippine Mediation Center Office (Philja-PMCO) is continuing its efforts to improve the implementation of its mediation programs. Like any other reform initiatives, there are various facets of mediation that are now being reviewed so that the PMC and its units can further complement the judiciary’s reform efforts and provide more effective mediation services to disputing parties.