Six LGUs in Negros Occ win DILG award

BACOLOD CITY , Philippines  - Three cities and three towns in Negros Occidental were conferred the Seal of Good Housekeeping (SGH) Award for good governance by the DILG last week.

The cities of Sipalay, La Carlota and Escalante, were among the four component cities in Western Visayas awarded with the SGH, along with Passi City in Iloilo province.

Also awarded were the towns of Valladolid, Candoni, and San Enrique as among the 38 towns in the region belonging to fourth to sixth class municipalities for carrying out interventions that promote governance and value transparency, accountability, participation, and performance.

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo awarded the SGH during the Regional Forum on Transparency and Accountability in Local Governance in Iloilo City last week.

The 38 towns of Region 6 are now eligible to avail of the P1-million Performance Challenge Fund upon submission of requirements, Robredo said.

The SGH is a program of the DILG which institutionalizes the commitment of the government's interior department to "aggressively scale up interventions to elevate the practice of governance that values transparency, accountability, participation, and performance."

The program also aims to recognize local government units with above benchmark performance in internal housekeeping.

It requires LGUs to qualify in major areas of its operations, such as sound fiscal management; transparency and accountability; valuing performance management; and general impressions on the LGUs. (FREEMAN)