LEGAZPI CITY – Legazpi City Mayor Carmen Geraldine Rosal is prodding barangay officials in this city to implement programs that would make them pass the evaluation for the Seal of Good Local Governance for Barangay (SGLGB) being given by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
In an interview on Tuesday, Rosal said the DILG added a new criterion for passing: at least 50 percent of the local government unit’s (LGU’s) total number of barangays must pass the assessment and evaluation for the SGLGB award.
She reminded all elected officials to perform well and implement more programs and projects to benefit their constituents.
“The criteria in the past years were good financial administration, disaster preparedness, social protection, health compliance, sustainable education, business-friendly, competitiveness, peace and order, environmental protection, tourism, and culture and arts. But in this new additional requirement, at least 50 percent of the barangays should also pass the validation of the DILG before an LGU could become an SGLGB awardee,” Rosal said.
She encouraged those who are neophyte officials to initiate programs and projects that are anchored on good governance at the barangay level, and to always support the city administration’s important programs.
She said the city government has allocated an annual amount of PHP100,000 for every barangay as support for their programs and projects that would help them to pass the DILG evaluation and validation and become SGLGB awardees.
Legazpi City has been a recipient of the SGLGB award for the past six years.
In a separate interview, Darlyn Ayende, DILG-Bicol chief for local government monitoring and evaluation division, said the SGLGB award is the highest recognition given by the DILG to LGUs practicing good governance, effective delivery of social services, and adherence to management principles that include transparency, accountability, and responsiveness.
She said LGUs need to have projects and programs in line with the SGLGB core governance areas such as safety, peace, and order; financial administration and sustainability; and disaster preparedness, among others. I Emmanuel Solis, Connie Calipay/PNA