As the current administration reels in further reducing the crime rate in the country, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) last week said 88.24% or 1,477 out of the 1,715 local government units (LGUs) nationwide have functional Provincial, City and Municipal Peace and Order Councils (POCs) for 2021 which are doing their share in carrying out peace and order initiatives at the local level.
“Peace and order remain to be a critical contributor to a progressive economy. We recognize the efforts of these 1,477 LGUs to continuously deliver good performance in promoting programs and policies aimed at intensifying peace and order in their respective jurisdictions and protecting citizens from the bad elements of our society,” said DILG Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” C. Abalos, Jr.
“The Marcos administration is relentless in its pursuit of reducing criminality and sustaining peaceful, orderly, and safe communities. One way to help reach this vision is to ensure that POCs at the local level are operating and functioning efficiently,” he added.
Abalos said the positive results of the POC performance audit is a clear manifestation of LGUs’ adherence to peace and order-related laws and policies such as Section 16 of Republic Act (RA) No. 7160 or the Local Government Code and Section 3 of Executive Order (EO) No. 773, series of 2019 titled “Further Reorganizing the Peace and Order Council.”
Among the Regional POCs that gained functional status for 2021 are Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4A, MIMAROPA, Region 5, Region 6, Region 7, Region 9, Region 10, Region 11, Region 12, Region 13, National Capital Region (NCR), Cordillera Administrative Region, and BARMM.
“POCs have played an integral role in the government’s campaign to go grassroots in fighting criminality, illegal drugs, insurgency and violent extremism. It becomes an instrument for stronger collaboration between the administration and the LGUs in carrying out projects related to peace and order,” Abalos said.
Under DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2019–143, Series of 2019, POCs in the regional, provincial, city, and municipal levels are also mandated to ensure the effective and efficient implementation of programs, projects, and activities aimed to curb anti-criminality, anti-insurgency, and anti-illegal drugs to ensure peace and order, and public safety.
The POC performance audit seeks to evaluate the functionality of Regional, Provincial, City and Municipal POCs, acknowledge the innovations done by the POCs and their Secretariats, enhance POC strategies and interventions and build an avenue to showcase the best practices of the POCs.
For the recent audit, Abalos said LGUs were evaluated based on their compliance to the prescribed membership composition in EO No. 773, the number of meetings conducted; three-year term-based plan and budget allocation; submitted accomplishment reports through the Peace and Order and Public Safety Plan Policy Compliance Monitoring System (POPSP-PCMS); initiated innovative programs on peace and order and public safety; and higher POCs’ general supervision of the lower POCs.
He said a local POC must earn an overall percentage score of not less than 65% to pass the audit and must not get a score lower than 50% in any of the six pillars, namely Organization, Meetings, Policies, Policies, Plan and Budget, Reports, Innovations and General Supervision, to be eligible for awards such as the Seal of Good and Local Governance (SGLG) . LGUs integrating modern strategies will also receive additional points.
According to Abalos, “The assessment is done every year to strengthen POCs in localities and determine new mechanisms that may enrich peace and order and public safety.”
In Catanduanes, all of the 11 municipalities have functional POCs, with three of them gaining scores of over 100 percent.
According to results of the 2021 audit forwarded to the Tribune by LGOO V William Aldea, the town of San Andres scored the highest with 102% in the POC compliance, followed by Pandan with 101.38% and San Miguel with 100.75%.
The scores of the other eight municipalities are as follows: Virac, 99.33%; Baras, 95.75%; Caramoran, 94%; Viga, 90.75%; Gigmoto, 85.15%; Bato, 83.96%; Panganiban, 72.21%; and Bagamanoc, 69.79%.
Comparing the 2020 and 2021 audit results, it was Batas that registered the biggest improvement from 67.08% to 95.75% while it was Caramoran which dropped from 98% to 94%.
Panganiban (70.92% in 2020), and Bagamanoc (62.50%) barely improved the scores of their POCs.