Benhur pushes better pay for mediators

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Sixth District Rep. Benhur Salimbangon filed House Bill no. 6108 yesterday that seeks to provide reasonable and regular compensation to all court-annexed mediators in the country.

House Bill 6108 or an Act Providing for Compensation to Mediator and Mediation Center Staff of the Philippine Mediation Center aims to provide regular compensation to the said staff including operating expenses for all mediation centers in the Philippines.

Salimbangon said that mediation works demand considerable time and expense of our mediators in reporting to the mediation center and also in attending cases to that require them to mediate outside of the centers.

“Despite this very taxing job our mediators and their staff perform, they however receive only very minimal remuneration. The mediators who are considered volunteers are given a fee of only P 500 for every successful case that has been mediated,” his bill read. 

The bill stated that with the consistent decline in the number of court-annexed mediators and staff vis-à-vis the growing number of cases referred for mediation, it is only necessary that they be given compensation that is reasonable, commensurate and regular in keeping with the objective of the program which is to provide an inexpensive, fast, and efficient resolution of cases.

"Importance should be given to mediators as they are responsible for the de-clogging of court dockets and the decline of cases that go to trial," Salimbangon said.

The bill stated that the Supreme Court of the Philippines shall formulate the necessary implementing rules and regulations that shall govern the implementation of this Act. —(FREEMAN)