Philippine Mediation Center

Mediation in the Court of Appeals  Q What is Appellate Court Mediation? Mediation is the process of resolving disputes with the help of a neutral third party (mediator) to reach a settlement that is mutually acceptable to all parties. Appellate Court Mediation (ACM) is a mediation program in the Court of Appeals Appeals (CA) corollary to Court!Anne"ed Mediation in the lower courts. #t provides a conciliatory approach in conflict resolution. $hrough ACM the CA promotes a paradigm shift in resolving disputes from a rights!  based (%udicial) to an interest!based (mediation) (mediation) process. Q &ow is Appellate Appellate Court Mediation different different from Court!Anne"ed Mediation Mediation or 'udicial ispute esolution? #n Court!Anne"ed Mediation a case eligible for mediation at a *irst +evel Court or egional $rial $rial Court during the pre!trial stage is referred by the presiding %udge to the ,hilippine Mediation Center (,MC) -nit for mediation. Mediation is successful if the parties enter into a Compromise Agreement and the %udge renders a decision based on this agreement. #f it fails or the parties refuse to undergo mediation the case goes bac to court for trial. #n 'udicial ispute esolution under the '-#/ ,ro%ect the mediation process is also in the lower courts and mediation is conducted %ust lie in Court! Anne"ed Anne"ed Mediation. #f mediation fails or the  parties refuse mediation mediation the case goes goes bac to the %udge who does does not yet try the case. case. $he %udge acting se0uentially as Conciliator 1eutral 2valuator and Mediator or a combination of the three attempts to convince the parties to settle their case amicably. #f the parties still refuse to settle the case goes bac to court for trial. #n Appellate Court Mediation the case has been tried and %udgment has been rendered at the lower  courts but has been appealed to the Court of Appeals (CA). $hus ,arty A already won the case in the lower courts but ,arty 3 appealed the decision to the CA. Q What are the benefits benefits of Appellate Appellate Court Mediation? Mediation? *or the %udiciary Appellate Court Mediation as part of the /upreme Court4s Action ,rogram for 'udicial eform (A,') aims to reduce the congestion of court docets. A review of pre!ACM court statistics shows that although the disposal rate is high at 56.7 percent the number of cases added to the baclog grows at an annual rate of 76 percent. Mediation offers a promising solution to lessening this baclog. *or litigants after mediation has failed in the lower courts Appellate Court Mediation provides an added option to put an end to costly and long!drawn litigation. /ince mediation is a non! adversarial approach to resolving a case in court it facilitates the interest!based settlement of the dispute through proposals coming from the parties themselves or suggested by the mediator and accepted by the parties. Mediation helps litigants settle their dispute and rebuild their relationship. #t is a win!win solution for both parties. Q When and how did implementation implementation of ACM start? start? $he /upreme Court authori8ed the ,hilippine 'udicial Academy Academy (,&#+'A) to pilot!test the

mediation program in the Court of Appeals on April 9: ;