The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Western Visayas recently recognized eight barangays for its outstanding justice system through the Lupong Tagapamayapa Incentives Awards (LTIA).
“LTIA is a program of DILG, an institutionalized system that grants economic benefits and incentives to Lupong Tagapamayapa that demonstrates exemplary performance in settling disputes at the grassroots or barangay level,” said regional program focal person Charmagne Lyle G. Matta in an interview Tuesday.
The Lupong Tagapamayapa is an administrative body created by law to operationalize the barangay justice system or the Katarungang Pambarangay and is composed of the barangay captain as Lupon chair, barangay secretary as Lupon secretary, and private individual volunteers who are residents of the community as members.
The DILG, in a virtual ceremony, awarded P50,000 each to the regional champion of the four categories, which were already endorsed for assessment to the national LTIA.
They included the Lupong Tagapamayapa of Barangay Calumpang, Molo, Iloilo City for the highly urbanized city (HUC) category; Barangay Lawaan, Roxas City for the component city; Barangay Candelaria, Tapaz, Capiz for the first to third class municipalities; and Barangay Abiera Sebaste, Antique for the fourth to sixth class municipalities.
The Lupong Tagapamayapa of Calumpang already won as national LTIA champion in 2018 and 2019.
Barangays Lawaan and Abiera were first-timers in the regional assessment while Barangay Candelaria won as the first runner-up at the national LTIA in 2019.
This year, the LTIA also honored first runners-up to include Barangay Fabrica, Sagay City for the component city category, Barangay Magsaysay, Patnongon, Antique for the first to third class municipalities category, and Barangay Lanag Sur, Tubungan, Iloilo for the fourth to sixth class category.
The Lupong Tagapamayapa of Barangay Dolores, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras won as second runner-up for the first to third class municipalities category.
The first runner-up won P15,000 each while the second runner-up received P10,000.
All the winners were given a plaque and a congratulatory tarpaulin.
The entries were judged based on efficiency in operations, effectiveness in securing the settlement of interpersonal dispute objective of the Katarungang Pambarangay (KP), creativity and resourcefulness, area or facility for KP activities, and non-financial support, Matta said. (PNA)
