The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will conduct a validation and assessment of the Provincial Government of Palawan on April 25, 2019 to know if it can be awarded with the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG).
The validation and assessment team will be headed by DILG OIC Assistant Regional Director Noel Bartolabac and Inocencio Magallanes of HARIBON Palawan. Provincial Administrator Atty. Joshua Bolusa conducted a meeting on March 28, 2019 at the Provincial Capitol to convene the 2019 SGLG Technical Working Group (TWG) of the capitol.
Based on the reports of the SGLG TWG, aside from the consolidation of all the required documents for the SGLG assessment, the group will also give focus and attention to the province-run hospitals’ materials recovery facility (MRF) and waste disposal, improvement of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center, installation of early warning devices and signages in identified hazard and risk areas, among others.
The different offices of the Provincial Government were given checklists of the required documents such as Provincial Accounting Office, Provincial Budget Office, Provincial Treasurer’s Office, Provincial Planning and Development Office, PDRRMO, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, Local Economic and Investment Office, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources, Provincial Tourism Office, DepEd, PNP Provincial Office and other offices involved in the SGLG assessment. The DILG raised the bar of the SGLG criteria, a notch higher for this year.
The new “All-in” assessment criteria of SGLG is another innovation that is expected to demonstrate positive results from LGUs further pushing for excellence and continuous improvement of local governance. Instead of using the previous assessment method called “4+1”, where LGUs need to pass four core areas and one essential area, the DILG has required LGUs to pass in seven areas in the assessment.
Aside from increasing the requirements, the DILG 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.