ILOILO – This province again won the much-coveted Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG), setting the record of being the only province in the Philippines to earn the recognition for four consecutive years.
Given annually by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the SGLG is described as the ultimate badge of integrity and performance in public service among local government units.
Gov. Arthur Defensor beamed with pride when he received the SGLG from senators Loren Legarda and Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, and Interior secretary Eduardo Año during the awarding ceremonies at The Manila Hotel on Nov. 7.
“The SGLG renders unquestionable and indisputable our fervent adherence to transparency, accountability and quality service delivery because the DILG is the ultimate judge in good local governance,” Defensor said.
Defensor’s statement was backed by Secretary Año who stressed in his speech that to qualify for the SGLG, local government units have to meet a set of criteria, which was scaled up this year, resulting to a few winners.
“Previously local governments need to pass only four core areas plus one essential area. But this year, the standards was increased to seven governance areas and obviously, only the best LGUs (local government units) qualify,” Año explained.
The seven performance areas include financial administration, disaster preparedness, social protection, peace and order, business-friendliness and competitiveness, environmental management, and tourism, culture and the arts.
“The SGLS is a progressive assessment system that gives distinction to remarkable governance performance across these performance areas,” added Año, who on Monday took his oath as DILG secretary after serving as officer-in-charge for 10 months.
Winning the SGLG also qualifies the province of Iloilo to avail itself of the P7-million Performance Challenge Fund, an incentive fund to LGUs in the form of counterpart funding to high-impact capital investment projects.
“Our previous cash rewards were used for the concreting of the 4.4-kilometer Poblacion-Bacay Road in Dumangas, as well as the construction of various water systems in remote barangays of the province,” Defensor said.
Receiving the award with Defensor were Provincial Administrator Raul Banias and DILG provincial director Teodora Sumagaysay. DILG regional director Anthony Nuyda and assistant director Mariz Sardua were also there.
Of the 81 provinces in the Philippines, only 17 received the SGLG for 2018. On the other hand, 39 out of 145 cities and 207 out of 1,489 municipalities in the country received the much-coveted recognition.
Senator Angara, the keynote speaker during the awarding ceremonies, disclosed that the bill he filed seeking the institutionalization of the SGLG has been approved on third and final reading.
“The SGLG should be enshrined as law of the land for I believe that there must always be a policy that recognizes and rewards good governance, especially when it is accomplished by our provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays,” he said.
Angara chairs the Senate committee on local government. The other guest, Senator Legarda, is an advocate of tourism, culture and the arts – a performance area added to the SGLG this year./PN
