Basics of Alternative Dispute Resolution Act

Disputes, disagreements, and conflicts are common in people’s everyday lives, but sometimes, they escalate, and the need for overseeing authority and fair and efficient ways to resolve them becomes essential. And so enters the Philippine court system with corresponding jurisdiction over different cases.

However, due to clogged court cases, dysfunction and delays in judicial decisions and awards persist in the country. As such, the State enacted Republic Act No. 9285, otherwise known as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 2004 (ADR Act), which sought to actively promote party autonomy in the resolution of disputes or the freedom of parties to make their own arrangements to resolve their disputes, achieve speedy and impartial justice, and unclog court dockets.?

The ADR Act adopts the United Nations Commission on International Trade Model Law on International Arbitration (UNCITRAL Model Law) and employs the Alternative Dispute Resolution System, which, according to Section 3 of the Act, refers to any process or procedure for resolving a dispute or controversy assisted by a neutral third party instead of a court presiding judge or an officer of a government agency.?

With the agreement of both parties, ADR Providers, such as institutions or persons accredited or nonaccredited as mediators, conciliators, arbitrators, neutral evaluators, etc., exercise ADR functions.

Forms of ADR

The most commonly used are arbitration and mediation.

Arbitration

According to Section 3 (d), arbitration means a voluntary dispute resolution process in which one or more arbitrators, appointed per the agreement of the parties, or rules promulgated under this Act, resolve a dispute by rendering an award.

The Republic Act No. 876 continues to govern domestic arbitration, subject to the applicable provisions of the ADR Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) and the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration adopted by the UNCITRAL on 21 June 1985.?

On the other hand, the ADR Act, its implementing rules and regulations, and the New York Convention govern foreign arbitration.?

Mediation

According to Section 3 (q), mediation is a voluntary process in which a mediator, selected by the disputing parties, facilitates communication and negotiation, and assists the parties in reaching a voluntary agreement regarding a dispute.

Other forms of ADR include:

Conciliation

According to the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), conciliation is a process whereby a neutral third party takes a vigorous and active role in assisting disputants in formulating solutions to reach an amicable settlement. Conciliation can be considered under mediation.

Early Neutral Evaluation

Section 3 (n) of the Act defines early neutral evaluation as an ADR process wherein parties and their lawyers are brought together early in a pre-trial phase to present summaries of their cases and receive a nonbinding assessment by an experienced, neutral person, with expertise in the subject in the substance of the dispute.

Mini-trial

According to Section 3 (u), a mini-trial is a structured dispute resolution method in which the merits of a case are argued before a panel comprising senior decision makers with or without the presence of a neutral third person after which the parties seek a negotiated settlement.

And any combination of the foregoing.

ADR Services

Mandated in Section 49 of the Act, the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution (OADR) which is an attached agency to the Department of Justice (DOJ), is established to promote, develop, and expand the use of ADR in the private and public sectors. It also aims to assist the government in monitoring, studying, and evaluating the use by the public and the private sector of ADR, and recommend to Congress necessary statutory changes to develop, as well as to strengthen and improve ADR practices following world standards.

These are other agencies that also offer ADR services:

• Katarungang Pambarangay (KP) or the Barangay Justice System (BJS). The KP is a community-based dispute resolution system at the barangay level under the Local Government Code of 1991 which aims to reach amicable settlement through mediation and conciliation.
• Cooperative Development Authority. Under CDA’s jurisdiction are disputes between members of a cooperative, federation, or union that arise from issues like mismanagement, election protests, violations of the Cooperative Law, misdemeanors of members, and fraud.
• Philippine Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC). Under its jurisdiction are disputes involving contracts within the construction industry, like claims for delays in payment or completion of jobs, claims for liquidated damages, requests for payment of progress billings, retention, workmanship issues and breaches.
• Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB). Mandated to provide a forum for the settlement of agrarian disputes by the 1987 Constitution and Executive Order No. 129-A, the DARAB is given exclusive jurisdiction over disputes from agrarian relationships and other land-related issues between landlords, and tenants, or among cooperatives and tenants.
• Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRC). PDRC, also known as PDRCI, promotes, encourages, and administers arbitration and mediation in specialized fields such as maritime, banking, finance, insurance, securities, and intellectual property for both domestic and international disputes in the Philippines.
• National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB). The NCMB is created to formulate policies, develop plans and programs, and set standards and procedures relative to the promotion of conciliation and mediation of labor disputes through preventive mediation, conciliation, and voluntary arbitration; facilitation of labor-management cooperation through joint mechanisms for information sharing, effective communication and consultation and group-problem solving.
• National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). The NLRC is a quasi-judicial agency under DOLE tasked with resolving labor and management disputes for both local and overseas workers through compulsory arbitration and alternative dispute resolution methods. It specifically settles and adjudicates those involving unfair labor practice, termination, breach of labor standards with a claim for reinstatement, the legality of strikes and lockouts, and money claims from an employer-employee relationship that exceeds Php 5,000 and other claims for damages from such relationship.
• Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR). The BLR is another agency under DOLE tasked with settling labor disputes. However, BLR’s mandate specifically involves the adjudication of inter- and intra-union disputes and conflicts in union representation, cancellation of union registration, administration of union funds, petition for election of union officers, and the violation of rights of union members.
• DOJ Commission on the Settlement of Land Problems (COSLAP). The COSLAP assists small landowners, tillers, informal settlers, and indigenous cultural minorities in settling their land problems or disputes through speedy and inexpensive investigation, conciliation, and adjudication.
• Insurance Commission. The Insurance Commission is an independent quasi-judicial body whose task includes resolving disputes in the insurance industry.
• Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Bureau Of Trade Regulation And Consumer Protection (BTRCP). The BTRCP is a quasi-judicial agency under DTI that receives and facilitates complaints on consumer products involving violations of the Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394).
• Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL). The IPOPHL’s IRR resolves intellectual property (IP) cases through arbitration and mediation.