Journal of Civil & Legal Sciences
Open Access

The study is intended to measure the effectiveness of Barangay Justice System in settling disputes and the level of implementation of the quarantine policies and procedures prescribed by the IATF Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of the Community Quarantine in the Philippines in the Municipality of Batad. The study was conducted in the 24 Barangays in the Municipality of Batad during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic last April to June 2020. The respondents were a total enumeration of the 24 barangay captains and the 722 household heads were randomly selected in the 24 barangays of Batad. Result shows that the residents of Batad finds the level of implementation on the quarantine procedures and policies as prescribed by the IATF Omnibus and EO 110 of the Province of Iloilo as highly implemented. The respondents rated the level of effectiveness of the Barangay Justice system as effective, while the Barangay Chairmen rated it as highly effective in settling disputes under jurisdiction such as violation of curfew hours and liquor ban. The respondents ranked 1st the lack of support from LGU as major problem/ issues they had encountered during the height of the pandemic. It is therefore recommended that there must be a strong coordination among the LGU and the Barangay Unit especially on strengthening the role and financial capacity of the barangay as the frontline unit during disasters and calamities. The analysis will start with the identification and discussion of the strengths of the programmed in helping relieve the courts of docket congestion, and in improving access to justice for all barangay residents. Subsequently, it will examine its limitations focusing on the difference between what the law mandates and how its implementation is actually taking place. Hence, different NGOs such as the Gerry Foundation are actively collaborating with government agencies to help strengthen the advocate for further judicial reforms. Alternative Dispute Resolution practices are not new, and society’s world over have been using non-judicial, indigenous methods to resolve disputes for very long. In Bolivia and Peru for instance there are pilot university-affiliated conciliation centres working with marginal communities provide the poor people with new and more accessible spaces to settle their disputes. Chile is also an interesting country, where Mediation is being developed as part of a pilot project within the Judicial Assistance Corporation. The Barangay is a smallest territory and political unit in the country, which aroused from a social organization based primarily on kinship ties and its survival dependency, is very much on interpersonal relations among members. There are thousands of barangays among entire country with a population from least 2,000 in municipalities and component cities, and 5,000 in highly urbanized cities and Metropolitan Manila.