RULE ON DISPUTES WHEN PARTIES DONT LIVE IN THE SAME CITY OR TOWN

Dear PAO,

John and I inherited from our parents (deceased) a farm land in Laguna. When my father was still alive,
he allowed our distant relative, Julio, to build a nipa hut on a 50-square-meter portion of the land subject
to the condition that he will remove the same as the need arises. We are now demanding for Julio to
vacate the land he is occupying because we intend to lease the whole property to a corporation. Julio
refused to heed our demand, so we intend to file a complaint before the barangay (village) where Julio
and I reside, but the village secretary said I should already file the case directly before a court. According
to him, while the barangay has jurisdiction over Julio and me because we are residents therein, it has no
jurisdiction over John because he is residing in Sulu. Please guide us on this matter.

Jake

Dear Jake,

As a general rule, disputes must be brought before the barangay (village) for conciliation proceedings or
amicable settlement as a condition precedent for filing the case in court. This finds support under the
provisions of Section 412 (a) of Republic Act (RA) 7160, which states that 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 or pangkat secretary and attested to by the lupon or pangkat chairman
or unless the settlement has been repudiated by the parties thereto.

Section 408 of the same law provides that the lupon of each barangay shall have authority to bring
together the parties actually residing in the same city or municipality for amicable settlement of all
disputes except:

Xxxx Xxxx

(f) disputes involving parties who actually reside in barangay of different cities or municipalities, except
where such barangay units adjoin each other and the parties thereto agree to submit their differences
to amicable settlement by an appropriate lupon;

xxxx.

The village secretary is correct when she said that you can file the case directly in court against Julio.
John, who is one of the parties to the dispute, is not a resident of the city or municipality where you and
Julio reside. That being the case, the barangay has no jurisdiction over the dispute.
In Abagatnan et. al. vs. Spouses Clarito (G.R. No. 211966, August 7, 2017), the Supreme Court through
Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo stated:

The LGC [Local Government Code] further provides that the lupon of each barangay shall have
authority to bring together the parties actually residing in the same city or municipality for amicable
settlement of all disputes, subject to certain exceptions enumerated in the law.

One such exception is in cases where the dispute involves parties who actually reside in barangay of
different cities or municipalities, unless barangay units adjoin each other and the parties thereto agree
to submit their differences to amicable settlement by an appropriate lupon.

Thus, parties who do not actually reside in the same city or municipality or adjoining barangay are not
required to submit their dispute to the lupon as a pre-condition to the filing of a complaint in court.

Applying the above-mentioned decision in your situation, the case you wanted to file against Julio need
not be brought before the barangay for amicable settlement, because the parties thereto are not
residents of the same city or municipality.