The town of Pilar bags the national Gawad Paglilingkod sa Sambayanan (GAPAS) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the town’s good convergence initiatives.

The DSWD in Central Visayas broke the news of the award given to Pilar in a post on Facebook on Friday, Jan. 29, 2021.

According to the same post, the local government unit (LGU) of Pilar is cited for initiating the Productivity Improvement through Landcare and Agricultural Resource Development and Management (PILAR DAM) program.

The said program, according to the DSWD, is meant to reduce poverty incidence by increasing household productivity.

In a telephone interview yesterday afternoon, Jan. 30, 2021, Pilar mayor Necitas Cubrado said she is excited, happy and thrilled to learn that her LGU bagged the award.

“I was surprised and I never expected nga makadaog labi nga national award,” she told The Bohol Tribune.

The GAPAS award is a commendation given to LGUs tor exemplary implementation of the Department’s programs.

Moreover, Cubrado said the LGU was cited for its exemplary performance in the implementation of some DSWD programs like the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) and the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Sevices (KALAHI-CIDSS) among others.

Meanwhile, back in April, 2020, the DSWD cited Pilar town as one of the towns in Bohol to have completely distributed the SAP funds to the intended beneficiaries.

DSWD Central Visayas’ Asst. Regional Director Shalaine Marie Lucero said LGU Pilar was able to distribute the SAP funds to 3,119 families.