DILG's rating on LGUs performance assailed

CEBU, Philippines - Governor Gwendolyn Garcia belittled the latest performance report released by the Department of the Interior and Local Government showing that Cebu was not among the two provinces in Central Visayas that made it to the top.

Garcia questioned the use of the Local Governance Management Performance System as basis in ranking the performance of the provinces. She said the LGMPS is only a self-assessment tool that should not be made as basis in the evaluation of performance of the LGUs.

Garcia explained that LGMPS is not a ranking system. According to her, it is just a system where every LGU was asked to fill up a form with data on their programs.

The accomplished forms are submitted to the DILG for assessment based on the data provided for by the LGUs. The latest performance report released by the DILG was based on the 2009 assessment.

“Which came out karon na. Judging from the overlong delay maybe we should also LGMPS DILG,” Garcia said.

Jerome Gonzales, DILG-officer-in-charge in Cebu, said the LGMPS might not have reflected other areas that the Cebu government has accomplished.

“This does not reflect na sluggish ang performance or wala na jud tay efforts. Bisan gani kung tan-awon nato ang efforts sa health and social services sabwag-sabwag but dunay uban tan-awonon sad,” Gonzales said.

Garcia said that Cebu even got a rating of five in terms of transparency, which she said is the highest.

“On financial accountability four point sixty seven pero i-ask pa kung giunsa pagkuha. On fresh water ecosystems, we have five. On forest ecosystems management we have five. Wa man gani mi mu-manage og forest so how did we get this five? Wa man mi forest. Nug-as na man lamay nahibilin. Isn’t this very funny?” she said.

The LGMPS, she said, even rated Cebu with five on urban ecosystems when it does not manage an urban city.

“I think it is unfair to come up with a ranking,” the governor said.

The ranking that they got supposedly from the assessment of their own department heads is reportedly disproportionate and unacceptable, Garcia said.

DILG recently revealed the top 10 provinces and 20 cities that scored high in the LGPMS for 2010 but Cebu was not one of them. – (FREEMAN)