Dispute Resolutions in the Lowest Political Unit in the Philippines: Assessment of the Difficulties and Innovations in the Katarungang Pambarangay System in Northern Philippines

This study aimed to learn about dispute resolutions in the lowest political unit of the Philippines, particularly with the Lupon Members’ firsthand experiences with the Katarungang Pambarangay. It assessed the challenges encountered and innovations implemented by the members of the Katarungang Pambarangay in the settlement of the cases in the three areas of dispute settlement. When grouped according to profile variables, significant differences in the level of difficulty were considered. This study employed both quantitative and qualitative utilizing a descriptive method in the eight selected barangays of Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya. A three-part structured questionnaire was used to gather pertinent data using frequency, mean, and t-test for paired samples and ANOVA, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. It was found out that the specific difficulties are: not following suggestions and agreements, lies and disrespect; failure to attend to proceedings; lack of training and compensation, and lastly, violence during proceedings. The findings of the study also include that most of the Lupon Members have difficulty regarding mediation, conciliation, and arbitration proceedings. On the other hand, there is no significant difference in the difficulty level when respondents are grouped according to data except for sex. On the significant differences, it was only in the area of seminars or training attended where significant differences existed among the study participants.