CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — A total of six local government units (LGUs) in Pampanga were conferred with the Gawad Payapa Award by the Provincial Peace and Order Council (POC).
The municipality of Arayat bested other component cities and 1st to 2nd class municipalities. Meanwhile, the municipalities of Candaba and Guagua ranked second and third place, respectively.
For the 3rd to 5th class municipalities, the municipality of San Luis was hailed as champion; with Santa Rita—2nd place, and Bacolor—3rd place.
During the awarding ceremony, Governor Dennis Pineda congratulated the LGUs and stressed the crucial role of peace and order in promoting investments and boosting economic growth.
“No investor will come in, no one will invest if there is chaos and there is no peace in our barangays and towns. That is not good. That is why peace and order in our province is very important,” he said.
Gawad Payapa Award seeks to recognize exemplary performance of LGUs in attaining lasting peace and ensuring safety and security of Kapampangans.
Rankings were based on the assessment on the functionality of component cities and municipal POCs.
Awardees received financial incentives which they can use to further their anti-criminality and anti-illegal drugs efforts.
The POC plans to increase the incentives next year to encourage more towns to develop exemplary peace and order programs.