Prov’l gov’t equips ‘Lupon’ members with better conflict mediation skills

The Negros Occidental provincial government has equipped 112 members of the Lupong Tagapamayapa or Lupon from four local government units with better skills to fulfill their vital role in the resolution of disputes in the barangays.

The Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO), in a report said 67 Lupon members from Cadiz City and Ilog town completed transformative mediation training-workshops on June 18 to 20, while 45 trainees were from the cities of Escalante and La Carlota completed theirs on May 19 to 21.

The training workshops were held at the Negros Residences hotel in Bacolod City, with Department of Education school principal Ed Jalbuena, a member of the Mediators Network of the Philippines, serving as the main resource person.

“This is funded under the Provincial Peace and Order Fund. The training emphasizes the role of the Lupon members as the neutral third party in conflict resolution,” PPDO officer-in-charge Anna Marie Lucasan said.

During the training-workshops, Lupon members were introduced to proper communication skills and techniques such as active listening, probing, and paraphrasing through actual simulations.

In his message to the latest batch of participants, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said that as the primary and frontline mediation body, the barangays and the Lupon have both the responsibility and the opportunity to prevent conflicts from escalating and being brought to the courts for more adversarial proceedings.

“More than just settling disputes amicably, the Lupon must also strive to mend the relationships of its conflicted community members. We aspire not only the absence of conflict but, most importantly, the presence of harmony and understanding in the community,” he said.

Since the province started conducting the transformative training-workshops for village chiefs in 2008, the participants have shared how the trainings have helped them greatly in solving conflict in their communities.* (Nanette Guadalquiver/PNA)