THE Seal of Good Local Governance or SGLG is the most prestigious award given by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to top performing local government units (LGUs) based on reliable assessment criteria which are continually being refined through the years.
Aside from the SGLG’s Performance Challenge Fund as incentive for winners, the SGLG marker conferred is also a symbol that an LGU is “working.”
During the past, the DILG, in its assessment of LGUs, primarily evaluated “Core areas” that include; Good Financial Housekeeping, Disaster preparedness, Social Protection, and recently, Peace and Order, plus a passing grade for any “Essential area” which includes; Environmental management, Business-friendliness and Competitiveness, and the newest area which is Tourism, Culture, and Arts.
This year, the DILG raised the assessment criteria from “4+1” to “All-in”, meaning all essential areas, including Tourism, Culture, and Arts, were elevated into core areas in LGU investments and prioritization.
In many LGUs, the terms “Culture”, and (especially the) “Arts” are too abstract when compared to the evident importance of other areas. That is because in investment prioritizations, “Culture and Arts” are usually considered as belonging to the higher plane of human concerns, and will not be grasp unless the basic community needs of social protection, peace and order, and economic development, are addressed.
The intention, perhaps, of grouping “Culture and Arts” with Tourism, is the inherent “humanities” element of the said concepts. The encompassing model of tourism, or people’s activity of travelling and its related economic and non-economic activities, naturally touches the community’s culture and way of life, including its people’s expression of beauty and ideas. Tourism, Culture, and Arts is an expansion of the regularly established functions of local tourism offices.
“Tourism, Culture, and Arts” as a newly-upgraded core area in SGLG assessment will hopefully pave way to LGU’s attention in advancing the following indicators: establishing a tourism office including the provision of its personnel (as mandated by the Philippine Tourism Act of 2009), especially a tourism officer who will assist and monitor tourist arrivals, allocate and utilize funding for the preservation of cultural property, valuing local heritage, history, and local artistic expressions.
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La Trinidad, the Capital of Benguet, has been reaping national awards through the years, including the SGLG recognitions like the recent 2017 SGLG. Part of the SGLG-Performance Challenge Fund we received for the said award will be utilized in constructing the first phase of our Tourism Office. This year, the LGU of La Trinidad will attempt to repeat the same feat, hoping that our efforts as a team in the LGU will again be rewarded.
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In celebration of the National Heritage Month, the town of La Trinidad, through its Tourism Development Services Office under the Mayor’s Office, will be organizing the first La Trinidad History Forum/ Conference on May 25, 2018, 8:30 a.m., at the Lednicky Hall, Municipal Building. This is also our way of embracing the added functions we proposed in promoting our story and culture as a people.