Village Justice System Implementation and Performance among Selected Villages in Southern Leyte Province, Philippines

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The successful implementation of the Village Justice System (Katarungang Pambarangay) relies on the effectiveness, efficiency, creativity, and resourcefulness of Village Justice Committees. With the enactment of the Local Government Code of 1991 (RA 7160), the authority to resolve community disputes was decentralized to the 42,025 villages nationwide. This study aimed to review and analyzed the implementation and performance of the Village Justice System in selected best perfoming villages of Southern Leyte Province. Specifically, it assessed the degree of law implementation, performance profile, significant relationships between variables, and the severity of problems. Employing both descriptive and inferential methods, the researcher selected top five best performing Village Justice Committees out of 500 in Southern Leyte, based on rankings provided by the DILG-Southern Leyte Provincial Office. The findings reveal excellent performance among the selected Village Justice Committees, demonstrated by high compliance with settlement procedures and deadlines, regular meetings, and quality case settlements. The study suggests a correlation between case settlement quality and committee performance in terms of adherence to procedures and meeting frequency. This exemplary performance is credited to the creative and resourceful approaches of committee members, utilizing best practices, innovative mediation techniques, robust communication strategies, and support system. However, there were problems due to lack of monetary remuneration and non-monetary incentive support as well as other administrative assistance given by Municipal/City Local Government Units (LGUs), National Government Agencies (NGAs), Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)/ Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the Private Sector. A Development Action Plan is formulated to solve the problems.