The Mt. Pinatubo eruption has affected a lot of towns in Pampanga. Due to the ash fall and the lahar flow, a lot of towns have been immobilized. The town of Guagua, a third-class municipality, is one of the towns affected by this disaster. With the establishment of the Guagua Integrated Approach Towards Sustainable Development program, however, the status of the town was uplifted from a third-class to a second-class municipality.

      The development of the municipality came about as a result of the three goals of the program. These are effective fiscal administration, the winning of public trust and participation, and the delivery of basic services.

      Bringing these goals into action involved the creation of various livelihood programs that has generated P50 million. The people’s active participation and cooperation were also solicited, enabling the municipality to unclog the waterways that were blocked by the lahar sediments. Moreover, a P24 million grant assistance was budgeted to repair the houses of around 2,000 families that destroyed by lahar. Lastly, infrastructure projects, costing more than P200 million, were done from 1991 to 1993 to benefit 31 barangays, totaling to a population of 90,000. This program was able to increase the municipality’s income from P3 million in 1986 to over P37 million in 1994, a 12 percent increase in less than 10 years.

      With all the accomplishments of the program, the town of Guagua, Pampanga became a recipient of the Regional and National Awards for Outstanding Local Government Unit, which is presented by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Progressive Alliance for Democracy.