KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/02 October) — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) formally conferred to the city government the Seal of Good Housekeeping award for 2011 in recognition of its “transparent and accountable governance.”
Josephine Leysa, DILG-South Cotabato provincial director, said the award mainly credits the local government’s efforts in promoting the principles of good governance in all of its mandated functions,
especially in the implementation of programs and projects as well as in the financial transactions that it entered into.
She said the agency specifically confers the Seal of Good Housekeeping award to local governments that have no adverse opinion from the Commission on Audit (COA) and achieved full disclosure in all of its financial transactions.
“This means that the city government of Koronadal was not only effective in terms of overall governance but had done so in upright manner,” Leysa said.
The DILG official presented the award, which is a seal made of fiber glass that weighs four kilograms, during the opening program on Monday of Koronadal City’s 2nd Negosyo Festival at the Gaisano Grand Mall.
The festivity, which runs until Oct. 8, is among the highlights of the city’s 12th charter anniversary celebration.
Leysa said that aside from the seal, which bears a citation signed by the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, the local government also received a financial grant of P28 million as part of the award.
She said the P25 million came from the DILG’s Local Government Support Fund while the P3 million was from the Performance Challenge Fund.
For this year, the official said the city government is again in the running for the Seal of Good Housekeeping award based on the results of the recent evaluation conducted by the DILG provincial and regional offices.
“Koronadal City again passed the validation to become a recipient of the award for 2012,” Leysa added.
Koronadal City Mayor Peter Miguel said they consider the award as a challenge and inspiration for them to continue with the implementation of various reforms that would ensure the institutionalization of effective, transparent and accountable governance within the local government.
He said the city government is presently working on various measures that would encourage more public participation in matters of local governance, sustain transparency in its operations and the streamlining of various processes related with the issuance of permits, licenses and other related documents. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)