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BiliranIsland.com
Published 10:00 AM, October 28, 2016
Naval, Biliran – Governor Gerry Boy Espina receives the 2016 Seal of Good Local Governance during the Philippine Local Governance Congress and Awarding Ceremony headed by DILG Secretary Ismael D. Sueno and Senator Sonny Angara at Sofitel Philippine Plaza last October 27. Senator Loren Legarda delivered the keynote address.
Biliran earned the distinction as the only province in Eastern Visayas to achieve the seal for the second time, the other province which was awarded in 2015 failed to qualify for the 2016 awards. For this year, the new and first-time awardees are the provinces of Samar, Eastern Samar, and Leyte.
Through a congratulatory letter, DILG Secretary Ismael D. Sueno praised the provincial government in passing the stringent requirements of the SGLG, the ultimate measure of any LGU’s performance in good governance and transparency.
For an LGU to be awarded the seal, the SGLG requires meeting the standards of three core areas namely: (1) financial administration, (2) social protection, and (3) disaster preparedness; and to pass at least one of three essential areas namely: (1) business friendliness and competitiveness, (2) Peace and Order, and (3) Environmental Management.
While most awardees passed the 3 core areas and 1 essential area, Secretary Sueno gladly announced that Biliran Province passed all three core areas and all three essential areas.
Governor Espina offers the SGLG award to all officials and employees of the provincial government, and to all line agencies, local government units, communities, civil society groups, and all stakeholders, whose unyielding support and cooperation has defined the kind of governance that he has led since his assumption to office in 2010.
The SGLG becomes the new tool in assessing local government units where LGUs must attain a passing score in major assessment areas to become an SGLG recipient and access the Performance Challenge Fund of P7 Million. But many Biliranons noted that the cash prize notwithstanding, Biliran’s being able to establish itself as having a good and transparent governance, the only one in Region 8 to achieve it for the second time so far, is a priceless achievement that will set the highest bar of standard for local governance in the province and in the entire region as well.
