Bulacan, among the five-time consistent Seal of Good Local Governance winners
CITY OF MALOLOS- For the fifth time in a row, the province of Bulacan was conferred with the Seal of Good Local Governance after the 2019 SGLG Awarding Ceremony-Cluster 2 held at the Fiesta Pavilion, The Manila Hotel, yesterday.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo S. Año said that this year’s awarding has pushed the limits and raised the bar to an “all in” assessment criteria.
“Hindi biro mapagkalooban ng SGLG dahil ang tanging nakakatanggap nito ay ang mga pinakamahusay, pinakamatiyaga at pinakamatatag na pamahalaang lokal. I’m sure that it was a journey filled with obstacles,” Año said.
This year, there were 380 awardees, 29 of which achieved the Seal for 5-peat including Bulacan, while 73 were new passers.
He ended reminding everybody that the real measure of the SGLG is not in meeting the qualifications of their assessment but rather the positive feedback coming from their own constituents.
Moreover, after suggesting some amendments in the SGLG criteria, Quezon City Representative Alfred Vargas, the event’s guest speaker, challenged everyone to build an island of good governance and said that it is worth working for.
“We are after all 7,100 islands, with the change in the reckoning of IRA, a lot more funds will go down to local governments, I am therefore confident that more and more LGUs will be properly funded to meet the ever expanding challenges of development and hopefully more and more LGUs will rise to the challenge of building islands of good governance,” Vargas said.
Meanwhile, Gov. Daniel R. Fernando said that the received award is because of all who worked hard and are continuously putting efforts in giving the public the best service they can including his partner Vice Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado, board members down to every employee of the Provincial Government of Bulacan.
He also congratulated all the other awardees in the province including the towns of Angat, Balagtas, Baliwag, Bulakan, Guiguinto, Plaridel, Pulilan and Santa Maria; and the cities of San Jose del Monte and Meycauayan.
“Buong puso ko pong ipinagmamalaki na ang ating mga mayor ay nagtagumpay dahil sa kanilang tiyaga at paghihirap sa paglilingkod, sa mga ibang mayor, sama-sama po tayo, ayusin po natin ang Bulacan, kalimutan po natin ang pulitika, at tulungan lahat ng mga nangangailangan,” Fernando said.
Each awardee received an SGLG marker, and the Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) in the amount of P4.5 million for a province, P3.5 million for a city and P2.3 million for a municipality.
This year also marks a defining moment for good governance under the RA 11292 or an act establishing and institutionalizing the seal of good local governance for local government units, and allocating for this purpose the seal of good local governance fund.