In accordance with the directives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to establish secure and peaceful communities through a whole-of-government approach, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has commenced the audit of 1,733 local peace and order councils (POCs) to evaluate how well they fared in the peace and order campaign of their respective jurisdictions.

The audit covers POCs of 17 regions, 82 provinces, 149 cities , and 1,485 Municipal POCs. The objectives of the audit are to identify the innovations of POCs, and determine possible strategies for the improvement of their performance.

Based on Memorandum Circular 2025-091, POCs shall be assessed using two main pillars – functionality indicator (70%), to check their compliance with the functions and responsibilities provided by the Omnibus Guidelines for POCs; and the development indicator (30%) to evaluate them based on their outcomes and impact on the peace and order and public safety situation in their locality.

POCs that have scored 85% and above will be rated as high performing, 70-84% as moderate, while those who scored 69% and below will be tagged as low performing.

POC Performance Audit results shall be utilized as one of the indicators of the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) awards under the Safety, Peace, and Order Area. LGUs with high-performance ratings will be deemed eligible for SGLG.

To standardize and streamline the management and assessment of documents, this year’s Audit shall utilize the full functionality of the POC Audit System.

Audit committees shall be formed at the provincial, regional, and national levels which are composed of representatives from the PNP, BFP, BJMP, Dangerous Drugs Board, Department of National Defense, and civil society organizations, among others. The DILG has advised all Audit Committees to thoroughly examine and validate the submitted documents to ensure the quality, veracity, and consistency of the audit results.

An online orientation and pre-auditing phase commenced this September, while post-audit activities, including consolidation, and approval of official results by the National Audit Committee will be completed by November.

A POC serves as the government’s mechanism for fostering stronger collaboration between local government units (LGUs), law enforcement agencies, and communities in addressing criminality, illegal drugs, insurgency, and violent extremism.

Original Article At: https://www.dilg.gov.ph/news/DILG-Starts-Audit-of-Over-1700-local-peace-and-order-councils/NC-2025-1195