THE City of San Fernando and Mabalacat City were conferred their fifth prestigious Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) during the awarding ceremonies at the Manila Hotel on Tuesday, November 5.
For the City of San Fernando, the coveted seal was personally received by Mayor Edwin Santiago and Vice Mayor Jimmy Lazatin, together with City Local Government Operations Officer Marites Quillope and heads of offices.
For Mabalacat City, Vice Mayor Gerald Aquino, Chief-of-Staff Rosan Paquia, and City Local Government Officer Rowena Ocampo accepted the award in behalf of Mayor Cris Garbo.
Both local government units (LUGs) were conferred the seal anew for implementing various programs to effectively deliver basic services to the people.
Passing grades
The City Government of San Fernando passed the components of the SGLG's seven areas of governance after the validation held during the previous months.
In the Governance Assessment Report released by DILG through Secretary Eduardo Año, 45 out of 50 components were passed by the city government.
The remaining five components fell under the "Reconsidered LGU condition," "Did not meet criteria," and "Not Applicable" items, respectively.
The number comprised of six passed components for Financial Administration, nine for Disaster Preparedness, 12 for Social Protection, eight for Peace and Order, five for Business-Friendliness and Competitiveness, four for Environmental Management, and one for Tourism, Culture, and the Arts.
"Ang paraan na ginagawa natin kung bakit mahusay ang pamamahala sa siyudad ay ang pagkakaroon natin ng iisang direksyon. Sa direksyon na ito ay pumapasok ang magandang pagpaplano. At ang pagpaplano ay hindi lang trabaho ng iisa kung hindi ng lahat ng departamento ng lokal na pamahalaan (What makes city management effective is that there is one direction. Through that direction comes excellent planning. And planning isn't one person's job, but the entire department of the local government)," Santiago said.
The city mayor added that the award is shared with all of the city's partners in performing excellent governance.
"Sa siyudad, ipinapairal natin ang participative governance. Kaya ang parangal na ito ay ibinabahagi natin sa lahat ng nakikilahok sa atin sa pangongobyerno katulad ng mga barangay, business community, public and private sectors, organizations, at siyempre, ang buong komunidad (We practice participative governance in the city. This award will be shared with those who contribute to good governance such as the barangays, business community, the public and private sectors, organizations, and the entire community)," he added.
San Fernando has also received the said award in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Sharing the award
Meanwhile, Garbo shared the award to his constituents other city officials in Mabalacat, including City Administrator Emmanuel Ignacio and others.
Paquia said the Garbo leadership draws its inspiration from the people of Mabalacat.
"This is a product of hardwork and dedication of our Garbo leadership. Inspiration natin ang mga kababayan natin at ang bunga naman nito ay maayos na pamamahala at recognition mula sa national government (It's an inspiration to our people and it's because of good governance and recognition from the national government)," Paquia said.
The City Government of Mabalacat passed the progressive assessments on the various aspects of public service delivery programs conducted by the DILG.
Unlike in previous years, the SGLG this year set the redefined "All-in" criteria where awarded LGUs must pass all expanded governance areas.
The DILG evaluates and recognize the efficiency and effectiveness of the LGUs in all areas in performing their mandates.
The 10 governance areas include Financial Administration; Disaster Preparedness; Social Protection and Sensitivity Program; Health Compliance and Responsiveness; Programs for Sustainable Education; Safety, Peace and Order; Business-Friendliness and Competitiveness; Environmental Management; Tourism, Culture and the Arts; and Youth Development.
Mabalacat is among the 380 awardees and of the 29 LGUs five-peat achievers of the award.
Garbo said the recognition is a testament to the vision and mission of his administration for a transparent and effective governance towards development.
Established in 2014, SGLG is a response to the "call" of the Local Government Code of 1991, which challenges the local government units to become partners of national government towards good governance. (With PR)