Republic of the Philippines

Region V
Province of Sorsogon
Juban National High School
Cogon, Juban, Sorsogon

ACADEMIC CONCEPT PAPER

SUBMITTED TO:

Mr. Ryan Desabayla

SUBMITTED BY:

Clinton R. Albor
“Raising Awareness about Barangay Justice System and Its Proper Implementation of
Peace and order”

Introduction
According to Manuel and Vigo, (2004) the barangay, being the closest political
unit to the people, ensures peace and justice through the Katarungang Pambarangay or
the Barangay Justice System. The 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. As a community-based mechanism for dispute
resolution, it covers disputes between members of the same community (generally, 7
same city or municipality) and involves the Punong Barangay and other members of the
community (the Lupon members) as intermediaries (mediators, conciliators, and,
sometimes, arbitrators).
The Katarungang Pambarangay Law has the purpose to give each barangay the
mandate to enforce peace and order, and provide support for an effective implementation
and enforcement of justice within their area. In areas where courts are inaccessible due to
their locations or the prohibitive costs of litigation, the Barangay Justice System has
become a venue for the people to avail of a peaceful resolution of their disputes. Lawyers
are not allowed or are barred from appearing in the barangay justice system, unless they
are personally involve, because the dispute must be peacefully settled by the disputants
among themselves. It is believed that without the intervention of a counsel, a dispute has
a higher chance of achieving an amicable settlement.
The Katarungang Pambarangay has two major goals: (1) to promote the speedy
administration of and enhance the quality of justice, by relieving the courts of case
congestion; and (2) to perpetuate and continue the time-honored tradition of amicably
settling disputes without judicial recourse, thus following the constitutional mandate of
preserving the Filipino culture, and to strengthen the family as a basic social institution.
(Tan & Pulido, 2006)

Need for this Study

Today, man has always encountered management challenges and idiosyncrasies
everywhere he goes. However, it does not necessarily mean that man has to enter politics
in order to serve his people. Although, the trend, that man usually renders service to his
fellowmen, if one positions himself in an elective office. Our society is increasingly
dominated by the belief of individual merit.
This belief is that people should achieve success through hard work and ability.
This is seen as the fairest and most especially an efficient way to distribute the social
status and marital rewards within the society. We need to have competent government
leaders that can promote the general welfare of the public especially the grassroots level.
The barangay Buraburan of Juban, Sorsogon is also practicing the function of the
Barangay Justice System through Lupong Tagapamayapa, the barangay has some cases
of local dispute and cases that need to be settled in the pamahalaang barangay and as they
are responsible for sustainable practices of the system toward barangay peace and order.
Raising awareness to the constituents is also proceeding to this study so that the
delivery of services and promotion of transparency and accountability in barangay
governance is always present.

1
 For this reasons the researcher is desirous of knowing the functions and scope of
the barangay Justice System.

Background
The discussion about Barangay Justice System tackles the need of the barangay to
have a smooth and orderly settlement exercised by the local authorities, all through the
discussion the main purpose of katarungang pambarangay is to convey peace and order
and need not to settle cases through courts if cases can be settled in the barangay.
According to Lipson (1965), Politics involves the fundamentals of social order
with the formation of groups. Society is a system of groups which are the breeding
grounds for politics. Good governance can foster public participation in policymaking
and promote inclusion in decision-making processes. A society that is well governed
should provide maximum opportunities for every individual to realize his full human
potential.
Thus by practicing good governance in a basic political unit such as the barangay,
it can be an effective tool for the promotion of the general welfare of the people, thus
would serve as an assessment for the performance of the elective barangay officials. This
inquiry notes that good governance of a barangay can be affected by the lack of
capabilities of officials; indecisiveness during assumption of duties as officers‐in‐charge.

Objectives
This research paper seeks to find out practices of The Barangay Justice System
(Katarungang Pambarangay) of Buraburan; Its Effectiveness to barangay Peace and
Order by focusing on these specific objectives:
1. To determine the different cases brought before Katarungang Pambarangay.
2. To assess the effectiveness of Katarungang Pambarangay in Buraburan.
3. To evaluate the implications of the Barangay Justice System to the barangay
Peace and order.

Research Questions
4. What are the different cases brought before the Katarungang Pambarangay?
5. How effective the Katarungang Pambarangay in terms of:
a. Their conciliation effort to reconcile parties
b. Enforcement of rules and governing laws
c. Proper application of the legal procedures for alternative dispute resolution

6. What are the implications of the barangay justice system to the barangay Peace
and Order?

Methodology
This study will cover barangay Buraburan from the municipality of Juban,
Sorsogon with 5 members of the Lupong Tagapamayapa as respondents and 5 from the
Sanguniang Pambarangay and 5 from local residents of the barangay. 2 male and 3
female participants from the Lupong Tagapamayapa, 3 male and 2 female from the
members of sangguniang pambarangay and 3 male and 2 females respondents from the
residents of barangay tughan.
2
 The researcher will prepare the questionnaire checklist as the primary data
gathering instrument. Part one is to determine what are the different cases brought before
the Katarungang Pambarangay. Part two is to measure how effective the Katarungang
Pambarangay in terms of: Their resolution effort to reconcile parties, Enforcement of
rules and governing laws and Proper application of the legal procedures for alternative
dispute resolution. Part three is to evaluate the implications of the barangay justice
system to the barangay Peace and Order.
The researcher will conduct interview and will distribute the questionnaire –
checklist. It contained checklist for the different cases brought before the Katarungang
Pambarangay. Checklist for the effectivity of the katarungang pambarangay. The
questionnaire will be personally distributed and retrieved by the researcher, thus
satisfying results will be achieved.
After collection, the data will be prepared for data entry. The descriptive statistics,
including tallying of frequencies in the calculation of percentages, and central tendency
summaries will be used for data analysis.

Research Timeline
The project is expected to be completed in 4 weeks with the following indicated as the
activities duration for every section of the research project.

Research Section Duration

Title 3 days
Introduction 3 days
Need for this Study 3 days
Background 3 days
Objectives 1 day
Research Questions 1 day
Methodology 2 days
Data Gathering 4 days
Data Analysis, interpretation and Discussion 3 days
Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation 3 days
Reviewing work for final submission 2 days

Reference
Manuel, M., & Vigo, M. (2004). Katarungang Pambarangay: A Handbook. Sentro ng
Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (SALIGAN); Philippines-Canada Local Government
Support Program (LGSP).
Martinez, A. M. (2002). Mediation in Courts in the Barangay Justice System. Philippine
Judicial Journal, 74-80.
Tan, B. K., & Pulido, M. G. (2006). KATARUNGANG PAMBARANGAY LAW: ITS
GOALS, PROCESSES, AND IMPACT ON THE RIGHT AGAINST SELF-
INCRIMINATION. Philippine Law Journal, 427.