Restoring Victim-Offender Relationship: A Qualitative Study of Restorative Justice in the Philippine Barangay System

Abstract

This study investigates the processes of restorative justice in the criminal justice system, with a focus on the barangay officials perspectives of offenders and victims in the 11 municipalities in the province of Ifugao. As a means of fostering healing and achieving a feeling of justice, it emphasizes how critical it is to recognize victims, offenders, and barangay official’s viewpoint and their critical involvement in the restorative process. The research is grounded by restorative justice theory, which focuses on repairing the harm caused by crime and restoring the relationship between the victim and the offender. Using a qualitative approach, participants were intentionally selected from the 11 municipalities in Ifugao province. Data collection involved self-developed guide questions, with the responses subsequently transcribed, translated, and analyzed thematically. The findings uncovered a variety of strategies from the perspectives of victims, offenders, and barangay officials, including fostering mutual understanding, engaging in dispute resolution, expression of feelings, rebuilding relationship through seeking forgiveness and reconciliation, repairing harm through making amends, use of cultural practices and religion values, promotion of fairness and neutrality and identification of solution. A key outcome of the research was the development of a proposed intervention program aimed at addressing the identified challenges and supporting effective restorative practices within the Ifugao community.