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Am11 1 6 SC Philja
Am11 1 6 SC Philja
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EN13ANC
Sirs/Mesdames:
Pleqse take notice that the Court en bane issued a Resolution 4ated
JANUAllY 11~ .~otl, which read~ as follows:
~'AM. No, 11-1-6-SC-PHILJA (Re~ 'Consolidat~d and Revised
Guidelines to Implement the Exp(lnd~d Cov~r(lge of Court-Annexed
M~c:liation [CAM] and Judicial Dispute Resolution [JDR]).- The Court
Resolved to
nmr/011111 [151]
CONSOLIDATED
AND
REVISED
GUIDELINES
TO
IMPLEMENT THE EXPANDED COVERAGE OF COURTANNEXED MEDIATION (CAM) AND JUDICIAL DISPUTE
RESOLUTION (JDR)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE
GENERAL PROVISIONS AND COVERAGE
1. Concept of court diversion of pending cases
1.1 Indigenous ADR under CAM
1.2 The Three Stages of Diversion
2. Rationale for expanded mediation jurisdiction over the civil
liability arising from more serious offenses
3. Mandatory Coverage for Court-Annexed Mediation
(CAM) and Judicial Dispute Resolution (JDR)
PART TWO
COURT-ANNEXED MEDIATION
Procedure
Sanctions
Duration of mediation proceedings in the PMCO
Suspension of Periods
Settlement
PART THREE
JUDICIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION (JDR)
Mandate
Procedure
Sanctions
Duration of JDR Proceedings
Suspension of periods
Settlement
Pre-trial proper
Trial and Judgment
PART FOUR
COMMON PROVISIONS FOR CAM AND JDR
Confidentiality
Role of Lawyers in Mediation and JDR proceedings
PART FIVE
SC-PHILJA-PMC MEDIATION TRUST FUND
PART SIX
THE PHILIPPINE MEDIATION CENTER OFFICE (PMCO)
AND MEDIATION CENTER UNITS
TO:
SUBJECT:
PART ONE
Consolidation entailed the integration of the original guidelines separately governing CourtAnnexed
Mediation (CAM) and Judicial Dispute Resolution (JDR), together with all their respective amendments
and revisions into a single consolidated guidelines that will supplant said earlier issuances that are in
conflictorinconsistentwiththeseconsolidatedguidelines.
1.2
TheEnglishUtilitarianpositsthatofthe3variables,severityofpenaltyistheleastimportant.
Article9,inrelationtoArticle25,RevisedPenalCode.
4
TheProbationLaw,ActNo.4221,asamended.
5
DOJmediationprogram.
3
Article 25 of the RPC categorizes these penalties as those punishable with prision mayor, reclusion
temporal,reclusionperpetuaanddeath(6yearsand1day,20yearsandlifeimprisonmenttodeath).See
TableofPenaltiesunderArticle76.
7
SummaryReportofCasesfor2006showsthatonly108,855civilcaseswerependingattheendofthe
period,while524,685criminalcasesweresimilarlypending.
8
R.A.No.7691expandedthejurisdictionofthefirstlevelcourtstocrimespunishablebyimprisonment
notexceeding6years,irrespectiveoftheamountoffine.
9
Section32(2),BP129,TheJudiciaryReorganizationActof1980.
for
the
10
Chapter 7, Local Government Code of 1991, R.A. No. 7160, essentially reenacts the Katarungang
PambarangayLawwithsomerevisionsand,therefore,isreferredtoastheRevisedKBLaw.
11
A.M.No.08910SCPHILJARe:GuidelinestoImplementMediationintheRegionalTrialCourtsActing
asAppellateCourtsinAppealsfromFirstLevelCourtsapprovedbytheCourtEnBancon10February2009
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid.
14
Ibid.
10
PART TWO
COURT-ANNEXED MEDIATION (CAM)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
11.
Sanctions
The court, upon recommendation of the Mediator, may
impose sanctions upon a party who fails to appear before the
Philippine Mediation Center (PMC) Unit as directed by the
referring judge, or upon any person who engages in abusive
conduct during mediation proceedings, as provided for in the
Rules of Court as part of the Pre-Trial and other issuances of
the Supreme Court, including, but not limited to censure,
reprimand, contempt, requiring the absent party to reimburse
the appearing party his costs, including attorneys fees for that
day up to treble such costs, payable on or before the date of
the re-scheduled setting. Sanctions may also be imposed by
the referring judge upon his own initiative or upon motion of
the interested party.
13
14
15
PART THREE
JUDICIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION
I.
Mandate
II. Procedure
Judicial proceedings shall be divided into two stages:
(1) from the filing of a complaint to the conduct of CAM and
JDR during the pre-trial stage, and (2) pre-trial proper to trial
and judgment.
The judge to whom the case has been
originally raffled, who shall be called the JDR Judge, shall
preside over the first stage. The judge, who shall be called the
trial judge, shall preside over the second stage.
At the initial stage of the pre-trial conference, the JDR
judge briefs the parties and counsels of the CAM and JDR
processes. Thereafter, he issues an Order of Referral of the
case to CAM and directs the parties and their counsels to
proceed to the PMCU bringing with them a copy of the Order of
Referral. The JDR judge shall include in said Order, or in
another Order, the pre-setting of the case for JDR not earlier
than forty-five (45) days from the time the parties first
16
The JDR judge shall not preside over the trial of the
when the parties did not settle their dispute at JDR.
Courts
15
PartieswillbemorespontaneousoncetheyareassuredthattheJDRjudgewillnotbetheonetotrythe
case.Thisissobecause,theJDRjudgemayhaveelicitedconfidentialinformationthatmaycreatebiasand
partialitythatcouldaffectthejudgment.
16
Rule18,Section2paragraphsb,c,d,e,f,g,andi,
17
17
Includespostjudgmentproceedings,e.g.motionforreconsideration,execution,etc.
18
19
Settlement Period
18
Paragraph1,Article2030oftheCivilCode.
20
21
22
XI. Settlement
A. CIVIL CASES:
If full settlement of the dispute is reached, the parties,
assisted by their respective counsels, shall draft the
compromise agreement which shall be submitted to the court
for a judgment upon compromise, enforceable by execution.
Where full compliance with the terms of the compromise
is forthwith made, the parties, instead of submitting a
compromise agreement, shall submit a satisfaction of claims or
a mutual withdrawal of the parties respective claims and
counterclaims. Thereafter, the court shall enter an order
dismissing the case.
If partial settlement is reached, the parties shall, with the
assistance of counsel, submit the terms thereof for the courts
approval and rendition of a judgment upon partial compromise,
which may be enforced by execution without waiting for
resolution of the unsettled part.
23
B. CRIMINAL CASES:
If settlement is reached on the civil aspect of the criminal
case, the parties, assisted by their respective counsels, shall
draft the compromise agreement which shall be submitted to
the court for appropriate action.
Action on the criminal aspect of the case will be
determined by the Public Prosecutor, subject to the appropriate
action of the court.
If settlement is not reached by the parties on the civil
aspect of the criminal case, the JDR judge shall proceed to
conduct the trial on the merits of the case should the parties
file a joint written motion for him to do so, despite confidential
information that may have been divulged during the JDR
proceedings. Otherwise, the JDR Judge shall turn over the
case to a new judge by re-raffle in multiple sala courts or to the
originating court in single sala courts, for the conduct of pretrial proper and trial.
24
25
PART FOUR
PROVISIONS COMMON TO BOTH CAM AND JDR
I. Confidentiality
Any and all matters discussed or communications made,
including requests for mediation, and documents presented
during the mediation proceedings before the Philippine
Mediation Center or the JDR proceedings before the trial
judge, shall be privileged and confidential, and the same shall
be inadmissible as evidence for any purpose in any other
proceedings. However, evidence or information that is
otherwise admissible does not become inadmissible solely by
reason of its use in mediation or conciliation.
Further, the JDR judge shall not pass any information
obtained in the course of conciliation and early neutral
evaluation to the trial judge or to any other person. This
prohibition shall include all court personnel or any other
person present during such proceedings. All JDR conferences
shall be conducted in private.
II. Role of Lawyers in mediation19 and in JDR Proceedings
Lawyers may attend mediation proceedings in the role of
adviser and consultant to their clients, dropping their
combative role in the adjudicative process, and giving up their
dominant role in judicial trials.
They must accept a less
directive role in order to allow the parties more opportunities
to craft their own agreement.
19
Guidelines for Parties Counsel in CourtAnnexed Mediation Cases, A.M. No. 04315 SC PHILJA, 15
March2004
.
26
27
PART FIVE
SC-PHILJA-PMC MEDIATION TRUST FUND
Trial Courts
28
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
Environmental cases
29
30
20
31
32
PART SIX
THE PHILIPPINE MEDIATION CENTER OFFICE (PMCO)
AND MEDIATION CENTER UNITS
(A.M. NO. 33-2008, February 12, 2008)
I. Philippine Mediation Center Office and PMC Units
The Philippine Mediation Center Office shall primarily be
responsible for the expansion, development, implementation,
monitoring; and sustainability of SC ADR mechanisms,
namely:
a. Court-Annexed Mediation (CAM)
b. Appellate Court Mediation (ACM)
c. Judicial Dispute Resolution (JDR)
d. Mobile Court-Annexed Mediation (MCAM)
e. Court-Annexed Arbitration (CAA) and other
Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms
The PMCO shall likewise be primarily tasked with the
organization of PMC units, as it may deem necessary,
throughout the country. It shall be under the operational
control of and supervision of PHILJA, in coordination with the
Office of the Court Administrator, through the Executive
Judges.
II. Organizational Structure
The Philippine Mediation Center Office shall be composed
of:
a) Executive Committee21 - The powers and authority of
the PMC Office shall be vested in and exercised by an
Executive Committee composed of:
21
CourtEnBancResolution,datedJune3,3008,underA.M.No.0825SCPHILJA.
33
22
JusticeJustoP.Torres,Jr.,PHILJAChancellor,changedtoJusticeMarinaL.Buzon,ExecutiveSecretary,
perBoardResolutionNo.0818,datedMay15,2008ofthePHILJABoardofTrustees.
34
*Mediation Aide
*Accredited Mediation
c. Judicial Dispute Resolution (JDR)
*Mediation Staff Officer V
*Mediation Staff Assistant II
*Mediation Aide
d. Mobile Court Annexed-Mediation (MCAM)
Every bus of the Justice on Wheels (JOW)
deployed for mediation in selected areas is
considered as a PMC Unit, thus, it is entitled to the
following:
*Mediation Staff Officer V
*Mediation Staff Assistant II
*Mediation Aide
*accredited Mediators
III. Powers and Functions of the PMCO
The PMC Office shall exercise the following powers and
functions in order to accomplish its mandate under A.M. 0110-5-SC-PHILJA:
a. Develop and promulgate rules and regulations that it
may deem necessary, subject to the approval of the
Supreme Court, upon recommendation of the
Executive Committee and the PHILJA Board of
Trustees;
b. Implement, in coordination with the Office of the Court
Administrator, rules and policies of the Supreme Court
on ADR mechanisms, namely, Court-Annexed
Mediation (CAM), Appellate Court Mediation (ACM),
Judicial Dispute Resolution (JDR), Mobile CourtAnnexed Mediation (MCAM), and eventually CourtAnnexed Arbitration (CAA) and other Alternative
Dispute Resolution mechanisms;
c. Establish such PMC Units as may be necessary;
d. Provide a system for the recruitment, screening,
training, and accreditation of Mediators;
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