Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T01:52:59.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Political Analysis of the Philippines' Katarungang Pambarangay System of Informal Justice through Mediation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2024

G. Sidney Silliman
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This article analyzes the Philippine system of compulsory conciliation both in terms of its significance in the context of the political system as a whole and in terms of its operation at the village level. I argue that the mediation structures established by national law are part of a pattern in which the Philippine state is incorporating within it the various sectors of civil society, but that the cooptation of the customary method of dispute processing is not meeting resistance from the rural Filipino. This analysis supports the more general argument that systems of informal justice operate to enhance centralized political authority, yet it reveals the dialectical nature of such arrangements for dispute processing.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , 1985 , pp. 279 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

*

An earlier version of this paper was presented to the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association in Denver, Colorado, June 2-5, 1983. The research upon which the article is based was supported by a 1981/1982 Senior Fulbright Research Grant. I would also like to acknowledge the generous support provided by the Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos, Cebu City, during the tenure of the grant. However, the findings and conclusions drawn in this article are my own.

References

ABEL, Richard L. (1982) “Introduction,” in Abel, R. L. (ed.), The Politics of Informal Justice: The American Experience, Vol. 1. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
AGPALO, Remigio E. (1975) “Legitimacy and the Political Elite in the Philippines,” Philippine Political Science Journal 1 (December).Google Scholar
BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUPERVISION, Ministry of Local Government, Republic of the Philippines (1979) Katarungang Pambarangay Rules and Regulations. Manila: Ministry of Local Government.Google Scholar
BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUPERVISION, Ministry of Local Government, Republic of the Philippines (1983) “Five Year Summary Report on the Katarungang Pambarangay, 1979-1983.” Manila: Ministry of Local Government.Google Scholar
CASTILLO, Gelia, VILLANUEVA, Patrocinio S. and Felicidad V., CORDERO (1969) “Local Leaders: Status, Attitudes and Behavior,” in Abueva, J. V. and de Guzman, R. P. (eds.), Foundations and Dynamics of Filipino Government and Politics. Manila: Bookmark.Google Scholar
CASTRO, Fred Ruiz (1976a) “The Bar and the Congested Dockets.” Address to the Third Regional Convention of the Greater Manila Region of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.Google Scholar
CASTRO, Fred Ruiz (1976b) “Making Free Access to the Courts a Reality (and Neighborhood Para-legal Systems).” Address to the Seminar for Action officers—under the auspices of the Malacanang Executive Office—held at the Philippine Village Hotel, November 10.Google Scholar
CHAVEZ, Ruben and Robert, HELSABECK (1984) Silliman University Project on Barangay Justice—PD 1508. Dumaguete City, Philippines: Silliman University.Google Scholar
de GUZMAN, Raul P. (1976) “Citizen Participation and Decision-Making under Martial Law Administration: A Search for a Viable Political System.” Manila: University of the Philippines College of Public Administration. Occasional Paper, Back Issue No. 1.Google Scholar
EASTON, David (1965) A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
HYDE, Alan (1983) “The Concept of Legitimation in the Sociology of Law,” 1983 Wisconsin Law Review 379.Google Scholar
ISAACMAN, Barbara and Allen, ISAACMAN (1982) “A Socialist Legal System in the Making: Mozambique Before and After Independence,” in Abel, R. L. (ed.), The Politics of Informal Justice: Comparative Studies, Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
JOCANO, F. Landa (1969) The Traditional World of Malitbog. Quezon City: CDRC—University of the Philippines.Google Scholar
KERKVLIET, Benedict J. (1979) “Law and Politics in a Philippine Village.” Paper prepared for the College of Public Administration, U. P., and for the Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University.Google Scholar
KERKVLIET, Benedict J. (1983) “Everyday Resistance to Injustice in a Philippine Village.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
LANDE, Carl (1973) “Networks and Groups in Southeast Asia: Some Observations on the Group Theory of Politics,” 67 American Political Science Review 103.Google Scholar
LYNCH, Frank (1973) “Social Acceptance Reconsidered,” in Lynch, F. and Guzman, A. de II (eds.), Four Readings on Philippine Values. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, IPC Papers, No. 2.Google Scholar
MACHADO, Kit G. (1979) “Politics and Dispute-Processing in the Rural Philippines,” 52 Pacific Affairs 294.Google Scholar
MARCOS, Ferdinand E. (1973) Notes on the New Society. Manila: Marcos Foundation.Google Scholar
McEWEN, Craig A. and Richard J., MAIMAN (1984) “Mediation in Small Claims Court: Achieving Compliance Through Consent,” 18 Law & Society Review 11.Google Scholar
MERRY, Sally Engle (1982a) “Defining ‘Success’ in the Neighborhood Justice Movement,” in Tomasic, R. and Feeley, M. M. (eds.), Neighborhood Justice: Assessment of an Emerging Idea. New York and London: Longman.Google Scholar
Feeley, M. M. (1982b) “The Social Organization of Mediation in Nonindustrial Societies: Implications for Informal Community Justice in America,” in Abel, R. L. (ed.), The Politics of Informal Justice: Comparative Studies, Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
MESCHIEVITZ, Catherine S. and Marc, GALANTER (1982) “In Search of Nyaya Panchayats: The Politics of a Moribund Institution,” in Abel, R. L. (ed.), The Politics of Informal Justice: Comparative Studies, Vol. 2. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
MOJARES, Resil B. (1984) Dispute Processing in Four Cebu Barangays: A Sociocultural Study of the Katarungang Pambarangay. Cebu City: Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos.Google Scholar
NAWAWI, Mohd. A. (1982) “Political Participation During the First Five Years of the New Society in the Philippines,” 13 Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 270.Google Scholar
NYDEGGER, William and Corinne, NYDEGGER (1966) Tarong: An Ilocos Barrio in the Philippines. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
PE, Cecilio L. and Alfredo F., TADIAR (1979) Katarungang Pambarangay: Dynamics of Compulsory Conciliations. Manila: UST Press.Google Scholar
PHELAN, John Leddy (1967) The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565-1700. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
POSPISIL, Leopold (1967) “Legal Levels and Multiplicity of Legal Systems in Human Societies,” 11 Journal of Conflict Resolution 2.Google Scholar
SANGAT LOG BOOK. An unpublished record of mediation proceedings and agreements in Sangat, San Fernando, Cebu from 1972 to the present.Google Scholar
SILLIMAN, G. Sidney (1981-1982) “Dispute Processing by the Philippine Agrarian Court,” 16 Law & Society Review 89.Google Scholar
SILLIMAN, G. Sidney (1982) “The Folk Legal Culture of the Cebuano Filipino,” 10 Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 225.Google Scholar
STAUFFER, Robert B. (1977) “Philippine Corporatism: A Note on the ‘New Society’,” 17 Asian Survey 393.Google Scholar
STONE, Richard L. (1971) “Lagay and the Policeman: A Study of Private, Transitory Ownership of Public Property,” in Lynch, F. and Guzman, A. de II (eds.), Modernization: Its Impact in the Philippines, Vol. V. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University, IPC Papers, No. 10.Google Scholar
TADIAR, Alfredo F. (1980) “Traditional Conciliation a ‘New’ Alternative to Judicial Resolution of Disputes in the Philippines,” Souvenir Program, Asian Law Association, 1980 General Assembly (March 24-29), Manila.Google Scholar
TADIAR, Alfredo F. (1984) Research Survey on the Conciliation of Disputes under the Katarungang Pambarangay Law. Diliman, Quezon City: College of Law, University of the Philippines.Google Scholar
TOMASIC, Roman (1982) “Mediation as an Alternative to Adjudication: Rhetoric and Reality in the Neighborhood Justice Movement,” in Tomasic, R. and Feeley, M. M. (eds.), Neighborhood Justice: Assessment of an Emerging Idea. New York and London: Longman.Google Scholar
TURKEL, Gerald (1980) “Legitimation, Authority and Consensus Formation,” 8 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 19.Google Scholar
WEBER, Max (1968) Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, Vol. 3. Roth, G. and Wittich, C. (eds.). New York: Bedminister Press.Google Scholar
WURFEL, David (1977) “Martial Law in the Philippines: The Methods of Regime Survival,” 50 Pacific Affairs 5.Google Scholar