9 Bicol LGUs bag good local governance award

By Bobby Q. Labalan

Sorsogon City --- Only nine out of 120 local government units in Bicol Region hurdled the stringent screening for the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) for 2022.

This was revealed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) as it published the list of the awardees in its official website Tuesday.

The SGLG is the highest recognition and the most prestigious award given by the DILG to excellent and performing LGUs in the delivery of public service through compliance to pertinent national laws and guidelines.

It “puts primacy to integrity and good performance as pillars of meaningful local autonomy and development. It is a progressive assessment system that gives distinction to remarkable local government performance across several areas”.

To be able to get the seal, LGUs need to pass all 10 governance areas namely: Financial Administration & Sustainability; Disaster Preparedness; Social Protection & Sensitivity; Safety, Peace and Order; Health Compliance and Responsiveness; Sustainable Education; Business Friendliness & Competitiveness; Environmental Management; Tourism, Heritage Development, Culture and the Arts; and Youth Development.

Mayor Michael Guysayko of Bulusan, Sorsogon (4th from left) receives the SGLG award from DILG Sec. Benjamin C. Abalos Jr., together with DILG 5 Regional Director, Atty. Arnaldo E. Escober Jr.(2nd and 3rd from left respectively) (DILG photo)

The National SGLG Awardees are entitled to avail of the SGLG Incentive Funds worth Php 7 million, and Php 5 million for city and municipality respectively, the DILG said.

“May you continue to inspire and to live up to the Matino, Mahusay, at Maaasahang serbisyo sa bayan!”, DILG 5 Regional Director, Atty. Arnaldo E. Escober Jr. said as he congratulated the winners.

Aside from the SGLG awardees, the DILG also released the list of the 2022 Seal of Good Financial Housekeeping (SGFH) passers wherein 75 LGUs made the mark.

Based on the DILG list, five city governments were in the winning circle which included Iriga City, Legazpi City, Ligao City, Masbate City and Sorsogon City. Naga City failed to make the cut last year.

For municipal governments, only four, all from Sorsogon province, were lucky enough to be in the list which include the towns of Barcelona, Bulusan, Irosin and Pilar but the Sorsogon provincial LGU was not as lucky as no Bicol provincial LGU was in the winning list.

Meanwhile, three provincial LGUs had passed the SGFH screening namely Albay, Camarines Norte and Catanduanes.

For cities, all Bicol city LGUs had cleared the hurdle together with 65 municipal governments which include Daraga, Malilipot, Oas, Pio Duran, Polangui, Santo Domingo and Tiwi in Albay.

The towns of Basud, Capalonga,Daet, San Lorenzo Ruiz, Jose Panganiban, Labo, Mercedez, Paracale,San Vicente, Santa Elena and Talisay in Camarines Norte were among the passers.

Also in the list are the Camarines Sur towns of Baao, Balatan, Bato, Buhi, Calabanga, Camaligan, Canaman, caramoan, Lagonoy, Libmanan, Magarao, Milaor, Minalabac, Nabua, Pasacao, Presentacion, Ragay, Sipocot and Siruma.

Likewise, the towns of Baras, Bato, Caramoran, Gigmoto, Panganiban, San Andres, San Miguel, Viga, Virac and Bagamanoc in Catanduanes and the Masbate towns of Balud, Cataingan, Cawayan, Dimasalang, Esperanza, Milagros, San Jacinto and San Pascual were among the passers.

Only four out of the fourteen towns of Sorsogon province failed to make it to the list. These are the towns of Magallanes, Matnog, Donsol and Irosin.