CAM and JDR

Table of Contents

Court-annexed meditation (CAM) and judicial dispute resolution (JDR) are some of the other forms of dispute resolution available in the country.

Court-Annexed Mediation

Court-Annexed mediation (CAM), as mentioned in a previous lesson, is a type of meditation conducted under the supervision of the court. More specifically, court-annexed mediation is a voluntary process conducted under the support of the court by referring parties to the Philippine Mediation Center (PMC) Unit for the settlement of their dispute, assisted by a mediator accredited by the Supreme Court.

The PMC was created under the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) through Supreme Court Resolution A.M. No. 01-10-5-SC-PHILJA dated October 16, 2001.

Cases Covered by CAM

  1. All ordinary civil cases, except those that cannot be settled under Article 2035 of the New Civil Code, and including civil cases covered under the Rule on the summary procedure.
  2. All special civil proceedings, except for those covered by Rules of Court 63, 64, 65, 66, and 71.
  3. In intestate proceedings, special proceedings for the settlement of estates where the dispute concerns claim against the estate or the distribution or partition of the estate.
  4. All cases involving matters relating to support, custody, visitation, property relations, guardianship of minor children, and other matters can be resolved through a compromise agreement under the Family Code and other legislation.
  5. Cases involving intellectual property and commercial or intra-corporate disputes.
  6. Environmental Cases, subject to the provisions of section 3 of Rule 3 of the Environmental Procedure Rules (A.M. No. 09-6-8-SC)

See Additional Notes for the specifics of these particular legislation.

Proceedings

The mediator has a maximum of thirty (30) calendar days to conclude the mediation process without further extensions. The time begins on the date of the case being referred for CAM.

Settlement

If a settlement is reached during CAM:

  • The parties, with the assistance of their counsel, must draft the compromise agreement. The mediator will make resolution samples/templates available to the parties to further guide them in the writing of this agreement.
  • Under the timeframe specified in section 12, Part B of AM 19–10– 20 SC, the PMCU shall send to the referring judge a Mediator’s Report on the outcome of the mediation proceeding, as well as a copy of the settlement arrangement and any attachments, if any.
  • The judge must review the Settlement Agreement attached to the Mediator’s Report, if any, and after their evaluation, they may continue to:
    • approve the agreement and render judgment based on it;
    • disapprove the agreement for being contrary to law, morals, good, customs, public order, or public policy, or upon a finding, based on a verified motion by any party, and after hearing, that the mediation proceeding or the preparation of the settlement agreement had been attended by fraud, mistake, violence or intimidation; or
    • clarify the intentions of the parties if the court determines that the agreement or any portion thereof is vague, defective, or unenforceable, and direct them to amend the same accordingly.

In the circumstances mentioned in paragraphs (b) and (c), the court can decide whether to refer the case to JDR or proceed to trial instead of disapproving or amending the agreement.

If there is no settlement, the PMCU staff must send a Mediator’s Report to the court detailing the mediation’s outcome within the timeframe specified

The following circumstances will be considered a failure in CAM:

  • When the parties mediate in good faith but no agreement was reached by them despite the efforts exerted by the assigned mediator; or
  • When either one or both parties fail to appear after they have started to negotiate in a previous mediation conference wherein the mediator exerted efforts to assist the parties in settling their dispute.

Mediator’s Report

The PMCU staff and the assigned mediator would ensure that the Mediator’s Report is sent to the referring judge on schedule:

  • In case of settlement, after the signing of the compromise agreement;
  • In case any of the parties refuse to mediate, on the date of such refusal;
  • In case of refusal to settle before the end of the mediation period, after the parties indicate their desire to terminate the mediation proceeding; or
  • In case the parties fail to settle within the mediation period, after the lapse of the said period.

There is refusal to mediate when one or both parties:

  • Fail to show up for at least two consecutive mediation sessions;
  • Reject or fail to pay mediation fees; or
  • Refuse to engage in the mediation proceedings.

Determination of CAM Judgment

To differentiate them from decisions based on compromised agreements entered into during JDR, judgments approving the parties’ compromise agreements must include a statement that they were made by CAM. For documentation purposes, copies of said judgment must be submitted to PMCU.

Judicial Dispute Resolution

Judicial dispute resolution (JDR) is a procedure in which a judge (referred to as the JDR Judge) uses conciliation, mediation, or early neutral appraisal to settle a case before it goes to trial.

Neutral or early neutral appraisal or evaluation is detailed in Article 7.6 Rule 2 of the IRR of RA 9285. It is an ADR process wherein parties and their lawyers are brought together early in the pre-trial phase to present summaries of their cases and to receive a non-binding assessment by an experienced neutral person, with expertise in the subject matter or substance of the dispute.

When a referring judge receives a mediator’s report informing them that no settlement was reached during CAM, they must then decide whether a settlement is still possible in the hearing set for that reason and, if so, assign the case to the JDR judge.

In case of a partial settlement and the judge is convinced that settlement is still possible, the unsettled part of the dispute is referred to a JDR judge.

If JDR fails, the case will be heard and decided by another judge, known as the trial judge.

Cases Covered by JDR

  1. All CAM cases, except for environmental cases, may be referred to JDR after failure to settle or refusal to mediate in CAM if the judge of the court in which the case was originally filed believes that settlement is still possible.
  2. The cases listed below, which were brought on appeal from the first-level courts’ exclusive and original jurisdiction, in locations designated as JDR sites if the RTC judge believes a settlement is still feasible.
    • All civil cases and settlement of an estate, testate and intestate;
    • All cases of forcible entry and unlawful detainer;
    • All civil cases involving title to, or possession of, real property or an interest therein;
    • Habeas corpus cases decided by the first-level court in the absence of any RTC judge.

Duration of JDR

The proceedings begin as soon as the referral order is issued and must be completed within a non-extendable period of fifteen (15) calendar days from obtaining the referral order.

If the parties fail to settle during the first JDR session and the time limit has not yet elapsed, the JDR judge will reschedule the case for another JDR session.

Qualification to Conduct JDR

Only judges who have undergone a skills-based training in Judicial Dispute Resolution are authorized to conduct JDR proceedings. They must also be stationed in JDR sites unless the judge is directed by the Supreme Court.

Conduct

When no settlement is arrived at during CAM, the parties and their counsels must appear before the JDR judge on their scheduled session. The JDR judge will act as mediator, conciliator, and/or neutral evaluator who will actively assist and facilitate negotiations between the parties to settle their dispute.

The tasks of a neutral evaluator are to:

  • assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of each party’s case;
  • make a non-binding and impartial evaluation of the chances of each party’s success in the case; and
  • guide the parties to a fair and mutually acceptable settlement of their dispute.

Once a case is settled, the JDR judge must create the JDR Report and return the case to the judge for appropriate action.

If a full settlement is reached:

  • The parties, assisted by their counsels as needed, must draft a compromise agreement.
  • Submit the agreement to the judge to verify enforceability.

If a compromise agreement was fulfilled before being sent to the judge:

  • Instead of submitting a compromise agreement, a satisfaction of claims or mutual withdrawal of both parties must be submitted.
  • The judge will then issue an order declaring the case terminated.

In case the parties only arrived at a partial settlement:

  • The parties, as assisted by their counsels, must submit the terms to the judge for approval and rendition of judgment.
  • For the unsettled part of the dispute, the case will proceed to trial until judgement.

Should there be no compromise reached:

  • The JDR judge must accomplish the JDR report and return the case to the judge.
  • The judge can then move forward with the case accordingly.

Supplementary Information

Cases that Cannot be Subjected to Compromise Agreement

The following cases cannot be settled via compromise agreement, regardless of whether it is via CAM or JDR:

  1. As previously mentioned, civil cases falling under Article 2035 of the New Civil Code.
  2. Petitions for habeas corpus;
  3. Special proceedings for probate of a will;
  4. Cases with a pending application for restraining orders/preliminary injunctions.

Note: The court shall refer the parties to mediation in cases covered by numbers 1 and 4 where the parties notify the court that they have agreed to attend mediation on certain aspects of the case, such as custody of minor children, property separation, or support pendente lite.

Referral to CAM and JDR

In all other actions or proceedings where compromise is not legally prohibited and a reasonable probability of settlement exists, one or all of the parties may request the court to refer their dispute to CAM and JDR by oral manifestation or written motion after the preliminary conference, or at any stage of the proceedings, provided there are still factual problems to be settled.

Mediator Selection

A Philippine Mediation Center Unit (PMCU) staff will assist the parties in manually selecting an appropriate mediator from the PMCU’s roster of mediators.

If the parties cannot agreed, the PMCU staff will choose one by lot among the available mediators at the unit in the presence of the parties.

If no mediator is in attendance at the unit, one will be selected by lot in the presence of the parties by the PMCU staff from a list of mediators.

← Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Dispute Resolution

Chapter 3: Litigation →