38 towns, 5 cities to get DILG award

CEBU, Philippines - A total of 38 municipalities and five component cities of the province of Cebu are among the recipients of the Good Financial Housekeeping award, a component of the much-coveted 2014 Seal of Good Local Governance of the Department of Interior and Local Government.

A team from DILG assessed 1, 676 local government units out of 1, 714 in the country. The DILG posted Friday on its official website the list of GFH recipients.

The GFH is conferred to an LGU for its adherence to the Full Disclosure Policy and the good practices of accountability and transparency.

The criteria of the GFH component of the Seal of Good Local Governance are the 2013 Commission on Audit opinion and compliance with the full disclosure policy posting in the first quarter of 2014. The posting should be in the FDP portal and three conspicuous places.

Medellin Mayor Ricardo Ramirez, whose town is among the recipients, thanked the people who have been working with the municipality for achieving the GFH component. He said the municipality is working with other areas to bag the Seal of Good Local Governance. (See table for other recipients)

Two years ago, the town had earned the Seal of Good Housekeeping, now the Seal of Good Local Governance. It received P8 million cash incentives which is now being used to fund the ongoing water system project.

Apart from the GFH, the core components of the Seal of Good Local Governance are the “Disaster Preparedness” which looks into the preparation for the challenges posed by natural and man-made disasters, and “Social Protection,” the LGU sensitivity to the needs of vulnerable and marginalized sectors of the society.

The other assessment areas are “Business-Friendliness and Competitiveness, “Peace and Order”, and “Environmental Management.”

In order to become a recipient of the Seal of Good Governance, an LGU needs to pass all the three core areas and at least one from the other assessment areas.

Aside from being conferred with the SGLG, an LGU is also entitled to a package of incentives and access to other national performance-based programs, according to the Official Gazette website.

For those who do not earn the Seal, the DILG will still provide capacity development interventions, the Gazette added, quoting DILG Secretary Mar Roxas.

Roxas said the Seal of Good Local Governance, which originated from the Seal of Good Housekeeping program in 2010 as initiated by late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, is introduced to provide “greater challenge to the local governments to continue good governance practices while providing better services.”

DILG-7 Director Ananias Villacorta, in a phone interview, said the deliberation for the recipients of the Seal is still underway. He added that the date of recognition has yet to be determined. (FREEMAN)