The Tales of Barangay Officials in Resolving Community Disputes

Abstract

Katarungang Pambarangay or barangay justice system is a community-based dispute settlement mechanism that is administered by the basic political unit of the country, the barangay. This system can improve the quality of domestic justice; it would reduce the number of indiscriminate filings of cases before the courts and reduce the number of cases filed there to the courts. The study explored the tales of the barangay officials in resolving community disputes in the urbanized barangays. The participants were selected through a snowball and purposive sampling. It based on the inclusion criteria: 1) Residing on working in the barangay 2) Member of the lupon tagamapayapa 3) Voluntarily participated and signed the informed consent. The selected participants were asked about their experiences in resolving community disputes in the interview. Based on the responses four emergent themes were developed namely: 1) Preservation relationship 2) Faster resolution of problems 3) Economically beneficial 4) Practical agreement. As a result, the researchers concluded that the data gathered from the survey questionnaire and the exclusive interview as a supplement and secondary source for the study implied a clear indication that members of the barangay and lupon tagapamayapa are doing their best in the discharge of their mandated powers and functions to fully serve the interest of their settlement in dealing with the resolution disputes of its experience constituents relatively with the segregation. Based on the findings and conclusions drawn from the study, the researchers would like to recommend that barangay officials have a positive mindset to settle barangays well and administer justice properly. Although it is difficult to contain their opponents' temper, barangay officials are focused on resolving their differences and reaching a negotiated agreement that works for all parties involved and has been successful, success in reaching a peaceful resolution without going to court.