Consistency helped more LGUs get good governance seal – researcher
MANILA, Philippines — Consistency helped more of the country’s local government units (LGU) attain the prestigious Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) this 2024, according to Ateneo de Manila University lecturer and policy researcher Czarina Medina-Guce in an interview with INQUIRER.net on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) awarded 714 LGUs with its prestigious seal, its incentives program recognizing performance in transparency and accountability, in ceremonies on Monday and on Tuesday, Dec. 9 and 10.
READ: More LGUs bag this year’s DILG Seal of Good Local Governance award
Based on DILG records, the figure marked the most honorees since 2015 when the program was first implemented.
It was also the highest number of recipients since its 2022 edition, which was the first since the SGLG was institutionalized by Republic Act 11292 and the first since the COVID-19 pandemic deferred the awards in 2020 and 2021.
Article continues after this advertisementMedina-Guce attributed the peak in awardees to the consistency of the 10 criteria areas prescribed by RA 11292, in contrast to the fluctuating number of criteria before the law.
Article continues after this advertisementWith research experience spanning nearly 20 years, Medina-Guce studied the history and design of the SGLG program in her June 2024 co-authored paper published in the Philippine Journal of Development.
The criteria grew to four core and one essential in 2017, then seven “all in” in 2018 and 2019. RA 11292 then expanded the criteria to 10 “all in” governance areas, implemented since the 2022 assessment post-pandemic.
While the assessment criteria were prescribed by law, indicators under each criterion are reviewed and expanded under the inter-agency Council for Good Local Governance, headed by the DILG.
“When you introduce a new indicator, it takes the LGUs generally two years to adapt,” she said.
“Back then, LGUs would find out about the new indicators when the memo came out during the first quarter of the year. Then, they would comply, and at the end of the year, they would be assessed. Usually, they would not pass if the indicator was new and difficult,” she added.
Passed in 2019, the SGLG law prescribed 10 assessment criteria areas:
- good fiscal or financial administration or financial sustainability
- disaster preparedness
- social protection and sensitivity program
- health compliance and responsiveness
- programs for sustainable education
- business friendliness and competitiveness
- safety, peace and 0rder
- environmental management
- tourism
- heritage development, culture and arts
- youth development.
“The DILG must be very happy because the rate of increase to 700 is incredible. It shows the learning implications [of SGLG for LGUs]. So our hope is that 2025 will show a similar trend… Hopefully, the number of winning LGUs ¸will be higher,” Medina-Guce said.
RELATED: 493 local governments get incentive fund for good performance
According to the DILG, the 2024 SGLG Incentive Fund has a total of P980,281,000.
Provincial LGU awardees will be granted P3 million each, city LGU awardees P2 million each, and municipality LGU awardees P1,153,000 each.
