A total of 263 local government units (LGUs) received the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) in 2018, even as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has raised the criteria for the award.
The department said on Monday only 17 provinces, 39 cities, and 207 municipalities were given the seal out of the 1,682 LGUs assessed nationwide.
“Congratulations to the 2018 awardees for besting the ‘all-in’ assessment criteria of SGLG. This is a testimony that LGUs in our country are continuously striving to improve the quality of service to the people,” DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said in a statement.
CHECK full list of SGLG 2018 awardees here
Año announced in May that the DILG will raise the criteria for LGUs hoping to get the seal. Instead of using the previous assessment method called “4+1” where LGUs need to pass four core areas and one essential area, the department has required LGUs to pass in seven areas in the latest assessment.
Aside from increasing the requirements, the department also imposed stricter rules on the seven governance areas, which cover financial administration, disaster preparedness, social protection, peace and order; business-friendliness and competitiveness, environmental management, and tourism, culture and the arts.
In 2017, a total of 449 LGUs — 28 provinces, 61 cities, and 359 municipalities received the SGLG.
READ: DILG raises criteria for awarding Seal of Local Governance
This year, the top five regions with the most SGLG awardees are the Ilocos Region with 51, followed by Central Luzon (43), and Calabarzon (24), Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM, 23), and Cagayan Valley (22).
Western Visayas is at sixth place with (21), followed by Zamboanga Peninsula (11), Northern Mindanao and CARAGA (10 each), SOCCSKSARGEN (9), and Bicol Region (8).
There are seven awardees each for the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Eastern Visayas, while National Capital Region (NCR) and Davao Region both have five, followed by Mimaropa (4) and Central Visayas (3).
The DILG chief said the big decrease in the number of awardees can be attributed to the stricter criteria. However, he acknowledged the steady rise of SGLG recipients in ARMM, given the harder route towards it.
“For the past years, the number of awardees have grown even with SGLG’s parameter upgrades. Understandably, the awardees decreased this year with the scaled-up assessment criteria from ‘4+1’ to ‘all-in,’” Año said.
“ARMM has been doing wonders. From zero in 2015 and six in 2016, the region took home 20 awards in 2017 and increased to 23 this year amid an ascending bar of SGLG criteria,” he added. /ee