- CHERYL G. CRUZ
The cities of Bago, Sagay, Talisay, Silay, Himamaylan, and San Carlos, and the town of Hinoba-an, all in Negros Occidental, are national passers of the 2022 Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG), the Department of the Interior and Local Government said Oct. 27.
“We laud your efforts in embodying good governance and raising the bar of excellence in public service,” the DILG6 added as it noted that for this year’s SGLG, Region 6 is the top region in the Visayas and Mindanao with the highest number of LGU passers. “On a nationwide scale, we rank first with the highest number of city passers and second in terms of provincial passers.”
The SGLG is a now-institutionalized award, incentive, honor, and recognition-based program aimed at boosting the LGUs’ drive to constantly progress and/or sustain their notable performance across various governance areas, the DILG said in Memorandum Circular 2022-026.
The areas of validation include financial sustainability and administration, disaster preparedness, social protection and sensitivity, health compliance and responsiveness, sustainable education, business friendliness and competitiveness, safety, peace and order, environmental management, tourism heritage development, culture and arts, and youth development.
The SGLG, being a progressive assessment system that gives distinction to remarkable local government performance across several areas, puts primacy on integrity and good performance to institutionalize local governance reforms in the continuing pursuit for meaningful local autonomy and development, the DILG MC added.
Under Republic Act No. 11292, or the SGLG Act of 2019, the Seal of Good Local Governance Incentive Fund has been institutionalized to support the implementation of, and cover the financial subsidy to qualified LGUs under the Local Governance Performance Management Program.
The subsidy shall be used for local priority projects or reforms that will help enhance transparency and accountability in all local government transactions, intensify the preparedness of LGUs against disasters, cultivate the welfare of vulnerable sectors, ensure the delivery of quality health services, support the vision of quality education for all, promote peace and order, and safeguard and preserve the integrity of the environment.
The seven Negros Occidental national passers are among the 11 LGUs, including the highly-urbanized Bacolod City, as well as Victorias City, Cadiz City, and Manapla town, shortlisted and assessed last month by 15 national validators, all from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao./CGC
