Cooperatives hold 1st national conciliator-mediator's confab

CEBU - Mediators from the different cooperatives all over the country gathered together yesterday for the first day of the three-day National Cooperative Coop Conciliator-Mediator’s conference in the Grand Ballroom, Crown Regency Hotel in Guadalupe, Cebu City.

The activity is in line with the Cooperative Development Authority’s advocacy for a continuing national peace, growth and economic development through mediation in cooperation with the Phil Ideas cooperative.

Honorable Secretary Lecira Juarez, chairperson of the Cooperative Development Authority, said that since disputes and conflicts are inevitable, through mediation, there will be a reduction in the number of minor conflicts.

Juarez also called out collaborative efforts among mediators in the different cooperatives to strengthen leadership and to disallow conflict to interfere within their respective organizations.

Juarez also envisions mediation as an avenue in the advancement of socio-economic growth of the country through “cooperativism” beginning in the community level. 

Undersecretary of the Department of Justice, Linda Malenab-Hornilla tackled yesterday the provisions of the Republic Act No. 9285 – an act to institutionalize the use of an alternative dispute resolution system in the Philippines.

Hornilla said that through mediation, there will be people empowerment as it encourages participation between conflicting parties and allows them to resolve their own grievances. She also said that a mediator can only mediate the interest of two individual parties and cannot suggest resolutions.

The National Conciliation and Mediation Board promotes the development of sound industrial peace by facilitating the settlement of labor-management disputes through preventive mediation and conciliation.

It also aims to strengthen the rights of workers to participate in policy and decision-making processes which directly affect their rights, benefits and welfare. — Bentley Naire Luyong, CIT Masscom Intern/WAB (THE FREEMAN)