CAGAYAN de Oro City Hall in collaboration with legal and academic institutions signed a three-year agreement with the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) to bolster the Lupong Tagapamayapa across all of the city’s 80 barangays.

 

The agreement specifically focuses on harmonizing the efforts between City Hall, the barangays, the academe and Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to strengthen the Katarungang Pambarangay (KP) system.

 

This development came following a special report delivered by Councilor Christopher George Goking who cited the urgency of strengthening the barangay lupon system during last month’s regular session of the 21st City Council.

 

Under the agreement, the parties commit to institutionalizing regular capacity-building programs for lupon members to improve their competencies in mediation, conciliation, and dispute settlement in order to reduce case backlogs in regular courts.

 

A key innovation is the Barangay Lupon Case Management and Notification System (BLCMNS)—a platform that will automate notice generation, monitor deadlines per barangay, and maintain case databases, meeting records, and complaints, with DILG given monitoring-only access in line with the Data Privacy Act.

 

Signatories to the agreement were the DILG, Cagayan de Oro City Hall, IBP–Misamis Oriental, Liceo Law and Xavier Ateneo Law, Liga ng mga Barangay and the Office of the City Prosecutor.

 

Councilor Goking said the collaboration among these stakeholders will ensure a more coordinated and well-supported approach to barangay justice delivery.

 

He said the DILG’s leadership and the unified involvement of partner institutions will strengthen community-level dispute resolution citywide. (MDS/CIO/Photos by: Roel Felicitas/CIO)