Talisay mediation center aiding courts

To help unclog case loads in the lower courts of the first district of Cebu the Talisay City government is now housing a mediation center in its new city hall in barangay Lawaan.

City legal officer Aurora Econg reported that since last week, the city's unit of the Philippine Mediation Center started receiving cases from individuals who belong to the first district.

This is a project of the Supreme Court which is intended to "decongest" court dockets and the mediation has been found to be "one expeditious mode of alternative dispute resolution."

The project is in compliance with a Supreme Court order dated October 16, 2001 establishing the PMC.

Aside from the one in Talisay, the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) has already established PMC units in Makati City, Quezon City, Pasay City, San Juan, Taguig, Cebu City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, Davao City, Digos, Tagum and Panabo, and other parts of the country.

This project targets to resolve approximately 80 percent of the cases brought to it for mediation.

In Talisay City, retired Judge Galicano Arriesgado is one of the volunteer mediators. - Liv G. Campo