Barangay justice system helps city claim another Galing Pook award
Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced yesterday that the city has once again won the top award given by one of the country’s leading multi-sectoral award giving bodie — Galing Pook Foundation.
The mayor said that the “Barangay Lupon,” a project of councilor Edgardo Labella has won the 2007 Galing Pook Award.
“Congratulations to Councilor Labella, this is his project. This is not the first time of course, we have won so many (awards) already,” Osmeña told reporters.
The Galing Pook Award recognizes outstanding and unique local government unit or community-initiated projects geared toward development and self-reliance, which serve as role models for other communities.
Councilor Labella, who represented the city during the panel interview at the Ateneo School of Government last month, said that there were 149 local government units who participated in the search.
Of the number, 19 were chosen finalists and only 10 will receive the grand award.
He said that the judges may have recognized the effectiveness of the Lupong Tagapamayapa in the 80 barangays of the city in implementing justice and solving conflicts in the barangay level.
Labella said that from 2004 to 2006, there were 37,063 cases in the barangays; and of the number, 26,694 cases, or 72 percent, were settled, mediated and conciliated.
“We have declog the court dockets because the cases were already settled in the barangay level,” he said.
Labella, who is chairman of the City Council Committee on Laws, Ordinances, public accountability and Good Governance, said that the Department of Interior and Local Government even recognized that the city’s program has helped a lot because it saves the government a lot of money.
DILG said that for every case settled in the barangay level, it saves the government P10,000, or savings of about P266 million for 26,694 cases for the period of 2004 to 2006.
Labella said that the Lupon Tagapamayapa are like justices in the barangays—they are trained on how to settle, mediate and conciliate and conduct hearings on cases at the barangay level.
The top 10 leading livelihood programs chosen as winners, one of them Cebu City, in the Galing Pook 2007 awards will be honored at Malacañang on February 28, with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as guest.
Among the other finalist for this year’s GPA are projects located in
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