The Department of the Interior and Local Government has recognized various barangay lupons in the country for the peaceful resolution of a total of 480,980 disputes in barangays in 2021 which could have been indiscriminately filed in regular courts and worsened case congestion in courts.

DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos stressed that the resolutions are a clear indication that the justice system at the barangay level is working and vibrant, and that lupons have been very effective in carrying their mandate of amicably settling disputes at the barangay level.

This comes as the DILG launched the 24th year of implementation of the Lupon Tagapamayapa Incentive Awards annual awards program.

The the LTIA is an annual awards program which grants economic and other incentives to outstanding Lupong Tagapamayapa which demonstrates exemplary performance and commendable contributions to attain the objectives of the Katarungang Pambarangay Program, an alternative conflict resolution structure at the grassroots level.

Abalos hailed the 12 outstanding Lupong Tagapamayapa who were declared as winners in the LTIA 2022 for their effective mediation in the amicable settlement of disputes in their respective communities.

Each national winner received P300,000 cash prize and a trophy.

The national winners for each category are Barangay Marketview, Lucena City in Region IV-A for highly-urbanized cities; Barangay Upper Katungal, Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat in Region XII for component cities; Barangay Poblacion, Tupi, South Cotabato in Region XII for 1st to 3rd Class Municipalities; and Barangay Abiera, Sebaste, Antique in Region VI for the 4th to 6th Class Municipalities.