The Supreme Court (SC) now has two animated instructional videos on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to guide litigants, mediators, and judges in the swift resolution of disputes in and out of court. The ADR instructional videos were turned over to the SC, through the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA), by the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) last Friday, July 21. The SC’s public information office (PIO) said the videos were produced by ABA ROLI in partnership with OCA and with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, in a message delivered for him by Justice Jose Midas P. Marquez during the turnover ceremony, said the two instructional materials -- one on Court-Annexed Mediation and the other on Mediators’ Training -- will be used not just to help train court-annexed mediators and judicial dispute resolution judges, but also to promote public awareness on ADR mechanisms, as well as the SC’s recent programs on them. “These videos were carefully crafted in an engaging format, particularly given the context of today’s multimedia digital landscape—and we are especially grateful for these materials because I am confident that these will go a long way in reinforcing the Court’s thrust towards encouraging the wider use of ADR mechanisms here in our country,” said the Chief Justice Gesmundo said. At the same time, Gesmundo said the ADR videos are a welcome contribution to the SC’s endeavor of encouraging litigants “to resort to mediation, judicial dispute resolution, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution in and out of court, in order to dispose of cases with less time and effort on their part, and with less expense on the part of the litigants.” He noted that the SC’s OCA had released a circular in 2021 on the enhanced utilization of ADR in resolving disputes. Tracing the effort to produce the ADR videos, Court Administrator Raul B. Villanueva said it started in 2021 when the Philippine Mediation Center proposed to the ABA ROLI the production of videos that will disseminate information about the ADR. “Thereafter, the OCA, upon prior approval from Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, and the ABA ROLI inked the Memorandum of Understanding to implement the project,” Villanueva said. He added that the project is one that is driven by the SC’s five-year Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI) “aimed at making our justice system and judicial processes efficient, innovative, and accessible.” He noted that the Philippines has been recognized as one of the leading countries in ADR programs and is a founding member of two international organizations: the Asian Mediation Association and the Judicial Dispute Resolution Network. “Our SC ADR programs have been existing for 21 years now. We currently have Court-Annexed Mediation (CAM), the Judicial Dispute Resolution (JDR), the Appellate Court Mediation, Court of Tax Appeals Mediation, the Mobile Court-Annexed Mediation, and, very soon, the Family Court-Annexed Mediation. We will continue to elevate the status of ADR by doing more programs similar to what we have done today,” he said. He also said that the two animated videos are a likely prelude to the adaptation of ADR programs that are not just integrated in court proceedings relative to cases already filed, like CAM and JDR, but to make ADR programs like conciliation and arbitration prerequisites for filing a court action. “When this happens, we already have a template to widen the reach to disseminate the advantages of such initiative,” he stressed. At the same time, Villanueva said that prior to the turnover of the animated videos, the SC’s PIO had come up with the same platform of animated instructional video for public awareness of the procedure for posting bail. The PIO said that Atty. Liezl Z. Parajas, deputy chief of party of ABA ROLI Philippines, shared the developments in the various programs of ABA ROLI and assured that ABA ROLI is deeply committed to continuing its cooperation with the leaders of the Philippine judiciary and the Philippine bar in accomplishing their programs. Also present during the turnover ceremony were Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) ADR Department lecturer and Court of Appeals Associate Justice Gabriel T. Robeniol, Assistant Court Administrator (ACA) Lilian C. Barribal-Co, ACA Maria Regina Adoracion Filomena M. Ignacio, ACA and PIO Chief Brian Keith F. Hosaka, and PHILJA ADR Department Chairperson Commissioner Linda L. Malenab-Hornilla. Representing ABA ROLI together with Atty. Parajas were ABA ROLI Philippines Program Manager Atty. Jadelee I. Marquez and Program Officers Atty. Joy Raguindin and Atty. Karen Tolentino.