Tabuk City- Local Government Operations Officer Mediatrix Aliño said that along with Kalinga Province and Balbalan, Tabuk City LGU was conferred the 2016 Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG), while Barangay Dagupan Centro was named as 2nd Runner-up component cities category for the 2015 Lupong Tagapamayapa Incentives Awards (LTIA) during the 25th anniversary of the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991.
With the theme “LGC@25: Pagsulong, Progreso, Pagbabago,” this year’s celebration seeks to build awareness on the gains and challenges of the LGC and serves as an avenue to present future directions towards deepening and strengthening local autonomy.
As incentives, Aliño said Tabuk City received a plaque and P3.5 million reward from the Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) while Barangay Dagupan Centro received a trophy and P50,000.00 from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) regional office and P75,000.00 from the DILG national office.
SGLG started in 2014 as a performance-based grant anchored on the principle of good governance and on ensuring better service delivery at the local level, she said.
“This was derived from the Seal of Good Housekeeping in 2010 which initially promoted transparency and accountability by encouraging LGUs to disclose financial documents, bids and public offerings, and to be accountable and rational in the use of funds,” she informed.
Criteria of said award she said include Good Financial Housekeeping which gauges the tenets of transparency and accountability in the LGU, Disaster Preparedness, Social Protection which measures access to social services especially for marginalized and vulnerable sectors in the society, Business Friendliness and Competitiveness and Environmental Management.
The LTIA on the other hand, she said, aims to strengthen the Katarungang Pambarangay as an indigenous conflict resolution structure at the grassroots level, institute a system of granting economic benefits and other incentives to Lupong Tagapamayapa which demonstrate exemplary performance and generate greater awareness and support from the various sectors of the society towards a comprehensive human development.
Through the Performance Challenge Fund, the program aims to provide incentives to deserving LGUs in recognition of their good governance performance particularly in the areas of transparency and accountability, planning and fiscal management and link with incentives and grants, and to encourage convergence of local development projects with national government’s priority programs. Said incentive is in the form of financial grant for local development projects included in their Annual Investment Program (AIP) and Local Development Investment Program (LDIP). ** By Geraldine G. Dumallig
