REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Level of Implementation

In a daily basis, Philippine judiciary system encounters countless cases ranging

from small to big scales. And given the tedious process of scrutinizing each of them and
carefully evaluating proper treatment, it is not advisable to collate all of them into one
level of the branch. As indicated in the law, 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, same city/municipality) and involves the Punong Barangay
and other members of the communities (the Lupon members) as intermediaries
(mediators, conciliators, and, sometimes, arbitrators).

In 1978, the former President Ferdinand E. Marcos ordered and decree the
establishment of a system of amicably settling disputes at the Barangay level under
Presidential Decree No. 1508 (The LawPhil Project, 1978). This decree stipulated the
process of amicable settlement through the Lupong Tagapayapa composed of Barangay
Captain, and not less than ten nor more than 20 individuals to as quoted:

“The Lupon shall exercise administrative supervision over the conciliation

panels hereinafter provided for. It shall meet regularly once a month (1)
to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas among its members and the
public on matters relevant to the amicable settlement of disputes; and (2)
to enable the various panels to share with one another their observation
and experiences in effecting speedy resolution of disputes.” (The LawPhil
Project, 1978).

This has been implemented since, observing the functions indicated structure of
the Katarungang Pambarangay as abovementioned 10-20 individuals. These members
are expected to posess integrity, impartiality, independence of mind, sense of fairness
and reputation for probity as they will serve as the role models of the community
(Martinez, 2001).

Katarungang Pambarangay is an innovation of the Philippine

justice system. It provides for resolution of disputes at the barangay level
in order to achieve peace and harmony within the community and to
provide an accessible and effective form of justice for community
 members. The Katarungang Pambarangay Law provides for local disputes
which fall under its jurisdiction to be resolved through mediation,
conciliation, or arbitration by the Lupong Tagapamayapa of which the
Punong Barangay is the Chairman. (Martinez, 2001).

The Local Government Code of the Philippines (1991) provides facilities and
training for these Barangay officials to ensure that the program is properly implemented
in their respective areas. The code specifically stipulates maintenance of the
Katarungang Pambarangay at any given time. Moreover, the Republic Act No. 7160 that
there shall be a established in every local government unit accountable, efficient, and
dynamic organizational structure and operating mechanism that will meet the priority
needs and service requirements of its communities (Officialgazette.gov.ph, 1991). “The
power of these mediators is underpinned by the stipulation that all intrabarangay
disputes must be channeled through them prior to submission to the court”
(Tabucanon, et al. 2008).

In a journal entitled “The Effectiveness of Conciliation Process: A Practical Way

of Delivering Justice,” the authors demonstrated the list of responsibilities the local
Barangay are practicing in their community:

“…the Lupon Tagapamayapa of every barangay shall bear

the authority to conduct assistance to the individuals or parties residing
within the same city or municipality for amicable settlement, except in
cases: (a) Where one party is the government, or any subdivision or
instrumentality thereof; (b) Where one party is a public officer or
employee, and the dispute relates to the performance of his official
functions; (c) Offenses punishable by imprisonment exceeding one (1)
year or a fine exceeding Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00); (d) Offenses
where there is no private offended party; (e) Where the dispute involves
real properties located in different cities or municipalities unless the
parties thereto agree to submit their differences to amicable settlement by
an appropriate lupon; (f) Disputes involving parties who actually reside in
barangays of different cities or municipalities, except where such
barangay units adjoin each other and the parties thereto agree to submit
their differences to amicable settlement by an appropriate lupon; (g) Such
other classes of disputes which the President may determine in the
interest of Justice or upon the recommendation of the Secretary of
Justice…xxx” (Agustin, C.; De La Cruz, C.; Medrano, G.; Sinco, R., 2018).
 The components of Katarungang Pambarangay is further illustrated in Co’s
(2020) “Katarungang Pambarangay (Village Justice) – The Soul of the PPA’s
Individualized, Community-based Restorative Justice Programme as: Lupong
Tagapamayapa, Pangkat ng Tagapagsundo and Legal Advisers (Co, 2020). Although
Barangay is considered the smallest form of Government in the Philippines, its officials
bear a huge responsibility to protect and observe peace within their jurisdiction.

Challenges of Other Barangays

The Barangay justice system is expected to unclog the crowd of cases in the
court, which is why it has been established in the first place. However, there are
numerous challenges experienced in implementation due to several factors. For
instance, some Lupon lacks proper education on the laws and policies, or sometimes
uses subjective thinking to treat a particular case. In the study discussed by Martinez
(2001),

“During the regional consultations, many barangay officials noted

some inherent weaknesses of the Lupon and Pangkat. The educational
attainment of members are found to be diverse – some have completed
college degrees while others have had only a few years of schooling.
While educational attainment is not an important criterion as to
community standing, respect, impartiality and integrity, it may be easier to
create collegial atmosphere if educational gaps are not too wide. Some
Lupon and Pangkat members are not aware of their role, duties and
responsibilities, among others. There are limited opportunities for
continuing education” (Martinez, 2001).

These weaknesses posts an extreme challenge for the strict implementation of

the Katarungang Pambarangay as the requirements to be a member of Lupon seems
too lenient for the functions they are supposed to portray. In addition to this, there are
also other challenges related to compensation, education, resources and capabilities
among others.

On this note, in 2019, City of Malaybalay initiated a refresher course to their

Barangay Officials to ensure that they are well educated about their duties and
responsibilities. The activity was handled by the Department of Interior and Local
Government (DILG) in collaboration with their local government (City of Malaybalay,
2019).

Several studies related to the challenges of the Barangays have been conducted
to illustrate the imperfections of the system. For instance, U.P. Diliman’s (2011) Is our
Katarungang Pambarangay Still Relevant?: Two Case Studies on our Indigenous Filipino
Justice System questioned the legitimacy of KP in terms of sufficient awareness and
knowledge of the Lupon and the residences. The trust and satisfaction of its community
were also studied to determine the efficacy of the system in the present times.
Consequently, there were also challenges on the administrative portion of the system.
Although there have been several innovations produced since the inception of Local
Government Code of 1991, many of the Barangays still have a hard time in execution
due to lack of resources. For instance, the City of San Pablo have been provided with
ICT-enabled equipment to improve their Barangay system. But despite that, “…several
barangay transactions are still done manually such as filing and processing complaints
at Katarungang Pambarangay, a community-based mechanism for dispute resolution”
(Torres, E.D., Del Rosario, M., 2019). Furthermore, in South Cotabato, the local
government initiated few reforms due to the discrepancies spotted in some barangays.
In 2017, Aurora Andrea de Pedro, the DILG provincial director then, initiated enhancing
the mechanisms and operations of 199 barangays in terms of their implementation of
Katarungang Pambarangay. They used one barangay who was awarded to have the
best barangay justice system in 2016 as the model in this improvement (Cabrido,
2017). In relation to this, local government agencies support the improvement of KP
implementation through rolling out incentives and awards for the outstanding
barangays. In 2017, Municipality of Trinidad released Administrative Order No. 036-
2017 which follows DILG MC No. 2016-58 that stipulated all Lupons nationwide are
covered by annual awards (Municipality of La Trinidad, 2017).

Synthesis of State of the Art

This study will further provide essential information on cases filed, level of
implementation and experience of both residents and Lupon in Barangay Triangulo,
Naga City. Despite numerous attempts of the officials to ensure seamless execution,
there were still challenges faced as mentioned in this chapter. Apart from that, the
analysis of this study will further provide additional information on top of the existing
researches conducted in previous years. Since the implementation of Katarungang
Pambarangay, there has been a huge decrease of cases that advances to court. This
means that in many areas, despite the posted challenges, there are still successful
barangay officials who executed their duties and responsibilities properly. For instance,
in a study conducted in the Municipality of Balayan, Batangas, the number of settled
cases in barangay increased than those that advanced to court hearings. As quoted, “…
higher than those which have ended up in court (i.e. certified cases). It was further
added that the “Katarungan Pambarangay” can claim success in meeting its purpose of
reducing the courts’ dockets” (Arada, J., Tamayo, M. R., 2020).

Subsequently, another study related to the similar assessment has been made in
Hagonoy, Bulacan – which was more focused on the purpose of enhancing the
mediation procedure. The responsiveness of the barangays and its effect on the
efficiency of KP has been assessed to determine the enhancement needed (Benter,
2020). In addition to that, Lim (2019) also conducted interviews with the Punong
Barangay of Jaro, Iloilo City to collate their experiences in KP; Borines (2019) on the
other hand analyzed the effectiveness of KP in Barangay Binanuahan, Caramoan,
Camarines Sur for the purpose of identifying the constraints and strengthening the best
practices of the Lupon; while in 2021, Metro et. al (2021), studied the similar topic in
the biggest barangay in Bacolod City – Barangay Mansilingan; lastly, for the purpose of
reference in this study, in 2019, Pila et al. (2019) also conducted the assessment of KP
in Mandaluyong City through FGD (focused group discussion) with Barangay Captains
and Lupon members in Barangka Ilaya and Old Zaniga.

Relevantly, Sotto (2021) studied the status of implementation of KP from 2015-

2020 in Implementation of the Katarungang Pambarangay in Selected Barangays in
Legazpi City for FY 2015-2020 wherein she used descriptive analysis to discuss the
disputes among the residents filed, the problems encountered by the Lupong
Tagapamayapa in their initiatives for amicable settlements, and the proposal to improve
the challenges encountered over the years (Sotto, 2021). These significant studies are
used as guide to ensure that this study will be aligned with the existing studies
conducted, only that it will focus in one barangay in Naga City.

GAP BRIDGED IN THIS STUDY

In the previous section of this Chapter, the researchers discussed about the
existing studies related to the same topic, however, focused on a different area and
scope. With this, this study focuses on Barangay Triangulo, Naga City, which fills a gap
present in the existing researches in the study. This aids the Lupon and residents of the
specific area to voice out their concerns regarding the challenges and the levels of
implementation of Katarungang Pambarangay. Through this, this study will further
contribute to filing of used cases and the treatment of each Barangay per area and
recommend enhancements moving forward.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This study will be guided by Expectancy Theory (or most known as Expectancy-
Disconfirmation Theory) which is considered as the most widely used theory to measure
customer satisfaction. This provides an understanding of comparison between
customer’s experience of new products or services as compared to their standard
expectation, normally influenced by experience or old practice (Oliver, 2015). Through
this model, the researchers will determine whether the customers are satisfied or
dissatisfied with the implementation of Katarungang Pambarangay. The residents
actually represents as the customers of the Lupon since the Barangay officials are
servicing them, as included also in the oath they took upon assignment of roles. Guided
by the research questions, this study will use EDM or Expectancy-Disconfirmation
Theory to create a comprehensive questionnaire to shed light to its research questions.

Moreover, in analyzing EDM, there are 3 possible outcomes the researchers may
encounter – one is Positive Disconfirmation which illustrates that the customers are
more satisfied with the new product or service than the pre-determined expectation,
standard or old model. In this case, the resident is happy with the implementation of
Katarungang Pambarangay. On the other hand, another possible outcome is Zero
Disconfirmation which denotes that the satisfaction level of the residents is same or
equal with their satisfaction level for the pre-determined expectation, standard, old or
traditional way of dealing with cases prior to the implementation of Katarungang
Pambarangay. In this case, the resident is equally happy with the implementation of
Katarungang Pambarangay versus the traditional system. Lastly, the third possible
outcome is Negative Disconfirmation which states that the resident is dissatisfied with
the new model as compared to their level of satisfaction that of the pre-determined
expectation, standard or old model. In this case, the resident is dissatisfied with the
implementation of Katarungang Pambarangay and would rather use the old traditional
process because it delights them more.

Figure 1. Diagram / Schematic of Expectancy-Disconfirmation Model (Oliver,

1977).
 Theoretical Paradigm

This paradigm presents the theory

that support the conduct of this
study.

Essentially, customer satisfaction is one of the top concerns of companies

especially in the service industry. Normally, customer satisfaction is guided by Key
Performance Indicators which indicates the measures on how to determine if the
customers are satisfied or otherwise. (Farris; Bendle; Pfeifer; Reibstein, 2016). Although
this subject is normally discussed in different perspectives in terms of research, most of
the studied portions are referring to psychological and physical experience of customers
regarding a particular product or service. This involves identifying the expectations of
the consumers and is characterized into four: ideal – which is the desire of the
customers; expected – customer expectations based on their standard or experience;
minimum tolerable – customers perspective based on their standard in comparison to
what is provided to them; and desirable – which refers to the product or service
provided after factoring in the concerns and feedback of the consumers (Wirtz;
Bateson, 2019). This measurement model is theoretically guided by the Disconfirmation
Theory which discusses and compares the standard of the customers coming from their
existing experience and their desires versus their experience of the new product or
experience.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

In this research, this theory will be used as a guide to create the questionnaire to
be sent to the respondents. Consequently, Likert Scale will be used to capture the
concerns and feedback of the Lupon and residents of Barangay Triangulo, Naga City.
Likert Scale is the most commonly used method in capturing customer satisfaction. In
this measure, the customers are asked to provide the level of their satisfaction and
confidence based on their experience of a particular product or service. Usually, these
are presented in numbers such as 5 (Very satisfied), 4 (Satisfied), 3 (Average), 2 (Not
satisfied), 1 (Extremely Dissatisfied) (Kessler, 2003). Moreover, customer satisfaction
appeals to the emotions of the consumers, thus the responses that they normally
provide is a result of both subjective and objective thinking. Meaning, one customer
may not represent the whole population due to the qualitative nature of responses,
thus, assigning specific quantitative measure on each option is essential to produce
more accurate analysis of the matter (Westbrook, Oliver, 2022).

Essentially, customer satisfaction plays a big role in any transaction. In fact, high
customer satisfaction rate improves the overall performance of the business in terms of
sales and revenue. For instance, companies who tend to value customer experience
more than anything else are recorded to have sustaining growth over the years than
those who do not give utmost attention to the needs and ideals of their customers
(Fornell, Dekimpe, 2010). On this note, then the Lupon or Barangay officials will always
have to attain satisfactory feedback from the residents without being biased whether
you are the complainant or the defendant, since the case went to due process.

The researchers assume that the expectations and perceived performance of the
residents will be based on their experience and satisfaction with the traditional way of
mediating cases prior to the implementation of Katarungang Pambarangay.
Traditionally, cases filed to complain against a specific individual will involve a tedious
process as it must go through the court hearing or settlement, in this case, it takes
longer and will involve exhausting more resources to process. Hence, the residents are
used to the turnaround time of case management through this model. The researchers
consider all possible factors that might affect the disconfirmation of the residents and
Lupon to ensure that the data gathered will represent the overall decision-making
process. By using EDM as the guide and considering the pre-determined expectations,
the diagram of this research is illustrated in Figure 2
Figure 2. Diagram of this research based on Expectancy-Disconfirmation Model

Expectations from
traditional case
management through
court hearing Disconfirmation Satisfaction or
(Katarungang dissatisfaction
Pambarangay) (Katarungang
Perceived performance Pambarangay)
of traditional case
management through
court hearing

Conceptual Paradigm

The paradigm shows the relationship of the variables

resulting to plan of action.

Moreover, the plan of action to be developed in conducting this study will

support the enhancement of the implementation of Katarungang Pambarangay. Once
the challenges and satisfaction of both residents and Lupon are gathered, the
researchers will be able to provide recommendations on specific areas to improve.
Although Barangay Triangulo, Naga City is just one of the many Barangays in the
Philippines, the results may not be entirely applicable to the scope of study. The
researchers does not discount the fact that one size does not fit all, but there may be
cases where the same challenges experienced in the area of this study can be applied
to another location as well. In this case, the improvements that will be identified and
recommended in this research can be replicated to other Barangays. However, despite
the possibility of similarity, the researchers suggest that a thorough study of other
Barangays be done as well to ensure that all aspects of the Katarungang Barangay will
be covered. Since the residents are considered the customers in this study, through the
guidance of the theoretical paradigm, the researchers will be able to tailorfit solutions
specifically to the issues that might come up during the study. Additionally, the
challenges of the Lupon will also be gathered to address their satisfaction of the
existing system as well, in terms of the provision of their need to equip them and result
to betterment of the system implementation.
Notes

The LawPhil Project (1978). Presidential Decree no. 1508: Establishing a System of
Amicably Settling Disputes at the Barangay Level.
https://lawphil.net/statutes/presdecs/pd1978/pd_1508_1978.html

Martinez, A. (2001). Community Involvement in Courts.

https://www.unafei.or.jp/activities/pdf/joint_philippines/topic3.pdf

Official Gazette.gov.ph (1991). The Local Government Code of the Philippines.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/1991/10oct/19911010-RA-7160-CCA.pdf

Official Gazette.gov.ph (1991). Republic Act No. 7160.

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1991/10/10/republic-act-no-7160/

Tabucanon, G. M.; Wall, J. A. Jr.; Yan, W. (2008). Philippine Community Mediation,

Katarungang Pambarangay. https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1556&context=jdr

Agustin, C.; De La Cruz, C.; Medrano, G.; Sinco, R. (2018). The Effectiveness of
Conciliation Process: A Practical Way of Delivering Justice. GARPH.co.uk. ISSN: 2278-
6236

Co, M. G. (2020). KATARUNGAN PAMBARANGAY (VILLAGE JUSTICE) – THE SOUL OF

THE PPA’S INDIVIDUALIZED, COMMUNITY-BASED RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
PROGRAMME.
https://www.unafei.or.jp/publications/pdf/14th_Congress/20_Dr.Manuel_Golloso_Co.pdf

Vigo, M.; Manuel, M. (2004). Katarungang Pambarangay: A Handbook. Philippines-

Canada Local Government Support Program (LGSP)

City of Malaybalay (2019). Barangay Officials, Lupon Revisit Procedures on Katarungang

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procedures-on-katarungang-pambarangay/

Torres, E. D.; Del Rosario, M. (2019). Issues in the Implementation of Katarungang

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Cabrido, A. L. (2017). Reforms in SoCot Barangay Justice System Pushed.

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Municipality of La Trinidad (2017). Administrative Order No. 036-2017.

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