• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Mayor Benjie Miranda on Friday, Nov. 15, brushed aside criticisms over the failure of Kabankalan City to receive the 2024 Seal of Good Local Governance, making it the only component city in the province without the award.
Instead, Miranda claimed that Kabankalan City have won many other awards, including being in the Top 10 most improved component cities in the Philippines and Top 8 most competitive city in the Visayas.
Its Local Civil Registrar was also cited as the Most Outstanding Local Registrar in the Philippines, he added.
In the province, the 2024 SGLG passers include Negros Occidental and Bacolod City as well as the component cities of Bago, Cadiz, Escalante, Himamaylan, La Carlota, Sagay, San Carlos, Silay, Sipalay, and Victorias.
Others are the municipalities of E.B. Magalona, Hinigaran, Ilog, Isabela, La Castellana and Manapla.
The SGLG is conferred by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to local government units that adhere to performance criteria on good financial housekeeping, disaster preparedness, social protection for the basic sector, business-friendliness and competitiveness, environmental management, and law and order and public safety.
Thirteen other towns in Negros Occidental also failed to get the SGLG this year.
The SGLG seal is an incentive program that recognizes and rewards local government units for “excellent service and high standards of governance.” | GB
