Module 1.
1
INTRODUCTION TO DISPUTE
RESOLUTION & THE ADR ACT
CHRISTIAN G. DOMINGO, MCJ, CST, EORA
INSTRUCTOR
COVERAGE
• BASIC CONCEPTS
• CONFLICT & THEORIES
• CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES
• INTRODUCTION TO ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION SYSTEM (ADR
ACT) IN THE PHILIPPINES
INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION
DOMESTIC ARBITRATION
OBJECTIVES
• Describe the basic concepts in the topic.
• Identify and describe the concept of conflict and its theories.
• Discuss the different conflict resolution strategies.
• Identify the significant features of the ADR System in the Philippines.
CONCEPT OF
ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION
• Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of
2004 came into law for the purpose of ITS PURPOSE
promulgating the prescribe procedures
and guidelines for its implementation an important means to achieve speedy and
along with the policy of the state to impartial justice and to declog court
promote party autonomy in the resolution dockets;
of disputes or the freedom of the parties to provide means for the use of ADR as an
to make their own arrangements to efficient tool and an alternative procedure
for the resolution of appropriate cases;
resolve their disputes; to encourage and
and to enlist active private sector
actively promote the use of Alternative participation in the settlement of disputes
Dispute Resolution ("ADR"). through ADR.
SIGNIFICANCE OF ADR
• Applying the principles governing
alternative dispute resolution will provide
the opportunity for the parties involved in
to settle the issue in their own expense with
the support of the local community,
authorities of the law and responsible social
organizations with the aim of restoring
interpersonal relations thereby contributory
to the public safety and promotion of peace
in general.
CONCEPT OF AMICABLE SETTLEMENT
• Amicable settlement on the other hand,
was formally institutionalized in order to
help relieve the courts of such docket
congestion and thereby enhance the
quality of justice dispensed by them. In this
premise, the context of restorative justice
has served to reference the objective of
amicably settling disputes at the
elementary level within the Barangay
Justice system, primarily with the objective
of restoring personal relations and initiate
effort from those that are mainly affected.
CONCEPT OF CONFLICT
• A conflict is a struggle between people. The struggle may be physical,
or between conflicting ideas. The word comes from Latin
“conflingere” means to come together for a battle. Conflicts can
either be within one person, or they can involve several people or
groups.
• Conflict is a natural disagreement arising between two or more
people. It exists when they have incompatible goals and one or more
believe that the behavior of the other prevents them from their own
goal achievement.
CONCEPT OF CONFLICT THEORIES
& ITS TYPES
TYPES
• Conflict Theories are perspectives in • Critical theory
sociology and social psychology that
emphasize a materialist • Feminist theory: An approach that recognizes women's
interpretation of history, dialectical political, social, and economic equality to men.
method of analysis, a critical stance • Postmodern theory: An approach that is critical of
toward existing social modernism, with a mistrust of grand theories and
arrangements, and political ideologies.
program of revolution or, at least, • Post-structural theory
reform. • Postcolonial theory
• Conflict theories draw attention to • Queer theory: A growing body of research findings that
power differentials, such as class challenges the heterosexual bias in Western society.
conflict, and generally contrast • World systems theory
historically dominant ideologies. It
• Race-Conflict Approach: A point of view that focuses on
is therefore a macro-level analysis
of society. inequality and conflict between people of different racial
and ethnic categories.
CONCEPT OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION
• Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes
involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution.
The term conflict resolution may also be used interchangeably with
dispute resolution, where arbitration and litigation processes are
critically involved.
• Conflict Resolution may also be used interchangeably with dispute
resolution, where arbitration and litigation processes are critically
involved. The concept of conflict resolution can be thought to
encompass the use of nonviolent resistance measures by conflicted
parties in an attempt to promote effective resolution.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES
Conflict Resolution Strategy #2:
Conflict Resolution Strategy #1:
Competing
Avoiding
• Competing is used by people who go into a
• Avoiding is when people just ignore or withdraw conflict planning to win. They’re assertive
from the conflict. They choose this method when and not cooperative. This method is
the discomfort of confrontation exceeds the characterized by the assumption that one
potential reward of resolution of the conflict. While side wins and everyone else loses. It
this might seem easy to accommodate for the doesn’t allow room for diverse perspectives
facilitator, people aren’t really contributing into a well-informed total picture.
anything of value to the conversation and may be Competing might work in sports or war, but
withholding worthwhile ideas. When conflict is it’s rarely a good strategy for group
avoided, nothing is resolved. problem solving.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES
Conflict Resolution Strategy #3:
Accommodating Conflict Resolution Strategy #4:
Collaborating
• Accommodating is a strategy where one party gives
in to the wishes or demands of another. They’re • Collaborating is the method used when
being cooperative but not assertive. This may appear people are both assertive and cooperative.
to be a gracious way to give in when one figures out A group may learn to allow each participant
s/he has been wrong about an argument. It’s less to make a contribution with the possibility
helpful when one party accommodates another of co-creating a shared solution that
merely to preserve harmony or to avoid disruption. everyone can support.
Like avoidance, it can result in unresolved issues. Too A great way to collaborate and
much accommodation can result in groups where overcome conflict is to reach out and touch
the most assertive parties commandeer the process them.
and take control of most conversations.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES
Conflict Resolution Strategy #5: Compromising
• Compromising, where participants are partially
assertive and cooperative. The concept is that everyone
gives up a little bit of what they want, and no one gets
everything they want. The perception of the best
outcome when working by compromise is that which
“splits the difference.” Compromise is perceived as
being fair, even if no one is particularly happy with the
final outcome.
SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE
RESOLUTION SYSTEM IN THE PHILIPPINES (R.A. 9285)
Policy of the State
• To promote party autonomy in the resolution of disputes or the freedom of
the parties to make their own arrangements to resolve their disputes;
• To encourage and actively promote the use of Alternative Dispute
Resolution ("ADR") as an important means to achieve speedy and impartial
justice and to declog court dockets;
• To provide means for the use of ADR as an efficient tool and an alternative
procedure for the resolution of appropriate cases; an
• To enlist active private sector participation in the settlement of disputes
through ADR.
TERMS TO PONDER
• ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION – a means to achieve speedy and impartial justice to declog court dockets.
• ADR Provider - means the institutions or persons accredited as mediators, conciliators, arbitrators, neutral evaluators or
any person exercising similar functions in any Alternative Dispute Resolution system. This is without prejudice to the
rights of the parties to choose non-accredited individuals to act as mediator, conciliator, arbitrator or neutral evaluator
of their dispute.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution System means any process or procedure used to resolve a dispute or controversy, other
than by adjudication of a presiding judge of a court or an officer of a government agency, as defined in the ADR Act, in
which a neutral third person participates to assist in the resolution of issues, including arbitration, mediation,
conciliation, early neutral evaluation, mini-trial or any combination thereof.
• Arbitration - means a voluntary dispute resolution process in which one or more arbitrators, appointed in accordance
with the agreement of the parties or these Rules, resolve a dispute by rendering an award.
• Arbitration Agreement - means an agreement by the parties to submit to arbitration all or certain disputes which have
arisen, or which may arise between them in respect of a defined legal relationship, whether contractual or not. An
arbitration agreement may be in the form of an arbitration clause in a contract or in the form of a separate agreement.
TERMS TO PONDER
• Award - means any partial or final decision by an arbitrator in resolving the
issue or controversy.
• Confidential Information - means any information, relative to the subject of
mediation or arbitration, expressly intended by the source not to be
disclosed, or obtained under circumstances that would create a reasonable
expectation on behalf of the source that the information shall not be
disclosed.
• Counsel - means a lawyer duly admitted to the practice of law in the
Philippines and in good standing who represents a party in any ADR process.
• Court - means Regional Trial Court except insofar as otherwise defined under
the Model Law.
TERMS TO PONDER
• Government Agency - means any governmental entity, office or officer, other than a court, that is vested by law with
quasi-judicial power or the power to resolve or adjudicate disputes involving the government, its agencies and
instrumentalities or private persons.
• Model Law - means the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration adopted by the United Nations
Commission on International Trade Law on 21 June 1985.
• Proceedings - means a judicial, administrative or other adjudicative process, including related pre-hearing or post
hearing motions, conferences and discovery.
• Record - means information written on a tangible medium or stored in an electronic or other similar medium,
retrievable in a perceivable form.
• Roster - means a list of persons qualified to provide ADR services as neutrals or to serve as arbitrators.
• Special ADR Rules - means the Special Rules of Court on Alternative Dispute Resolution issued by the Supreme Court
on September 1, 2009.
Exception to the Application of the ADR Act
The provisions of the ADR Act shall not apply to the resolution or settlement of the
following:
• labor disputes covered by Presidential Decree No. 442, otherwise known as the
"Labor Code of the Philippines, as amended", and its Implementing Rules and
Regulations;
• the civil status of persons;
• the validity of marriage;
• any ground for legal separation;
• the jurisdiction of courts;
• criminal liability;
• those disputes which by law cannot be compromised; and
• disputes referred to court-annexed mediation.
Liability of ADR Providers/Practitioners
• The ADR providers/practitioners shall
have the same civil liability for acts done
in the performance of their official duties
as that of public officers, upon a clear
showing of bad faith, malice or gross
negligence.
REFERENCES
• Domingo, C.G. (2020). Dispute Resolution & Crisis Management.
Wiseman’s Books Trading. Inc., Quezon City, Philippines
• Manwong, R.K. (2014). Corrections & Restorative Justice. Wiseman’s
Books Trading. Inc., Quezon City, Philippines
• Arana, S. T. (2013). Guide to Effective Barangay Administration.
Wiseman’s Books Trading, Inc., Quezon City, Philippines.
• IRR of Republic Act 9285
End of Presentation
