Barangay conciliation required before case can be filed in court

Dear PAO,

I have a dispute with my neighbor, and I must admit that I did not avail of barangay conciliation when I filed the complaint against him in court. The barangay officials and my neighbor were related, so I refused to undergo conciliation proceedings before the barangay out of concern that I will not be treated fairly. I am worried because my neighbor bragged that my complaint will be automatically dismissed by the court because of my failure to undergo barangay conciliation proceedings. Is he correct?

Teddy

Dear Teddy,

As a rule, it is a requirement for contending parties residing in the same barangay to undergo conciliation before filing a case in court. This is in consonance with Section 412 of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, which provides that:

«Section 412. Conciliation. –

»(a) Pre-condition to Filing of Complaint in Court. — No complaint, petition, action, or proceeding involving any matter within the authority of the lupon shall be filed or instituted directly in court or any other government office for adjudication, unless there has been a confrontation between the parties before the lupon chairman or the pangkat, and that no conciliation or settlement has been reached as certified by the lupon secretary or pangkat secretary as attested to by the lupon or pangkat chairman or unless the settlement has been repudiated by the parties thereto.

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"(b) Where Parties May Go Directly to Court. – The parties may go directly to court in the following instances:

'(1) Where the accused is under detention;

'(2) Where a person has otherwise been deprived of personal liberty calling for habeas corpus proceedings;

'(3) Where actions are coupled with provisional remedies such as preliminary injunction, attachment, delivery of personal property and support pendente lite; and

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'(4) Where the action may otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations.'

"© Conciliation Among Members of Indigenous Cultural Communities. – The customs and traditions of indigenous cultural communities shall be applied in settling disputes between members of the cultural communities."

Correlative thereto, Section 12 (a)(5), Rule 8 of AM