Two municipalities in Bohol, Talibon and Tubigon, were awarded with the coveted Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) in line with the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) annual search for top-performing local government units (LGU) across the country.

Both LGUs were conferred the SGLG at the Manila Hotel in Manila on Tuesday night, said DILG provincial director Jhonjoan Mende.

The two Bohol towns were among only 380 out of 1,715 LGUs which bagged the recognition.

According to Mende, the DILG has raised its criteria, making the 2019 SGLG more challenging for LGUs.

“Every year magka-level up ang mga criteria,” he said.

Mende explained that LGUs need to pass all seven governance areas namely: Financial Administration; Disaster Preparedness; Social Protection; Peace and Order; Business Friendliness and Competitiveness; Environmental Protection; and Tourism Culture and the Arts.

Tubigon Mayor William Jao who flew to Manila and received the seal confirmed that the requirements needed to pass the criteria were much more difficult to achieve compared with those in previous years.

“Lisod kaayo ang criteria, gi lisod-lisod mi,” he said.

Jao, a second-term chief executive of the town, took pride in the award but admitted that the LGU really had to mount efforts and allot funds to meet the requirements set by the DILG.

“Di ka bayran og sapi ning award…garbo ug dungog isip Bol-anon na nakagunit og SGLG,” said Jao.

Meanwhile, Talibon Mayor Janet Garcia who is on her first term received the award for her municipality.

According to Mende, winning municipalities will be awarded with P2.5 million each.

The amount will be allotted for a chosen project of the recipient LGU.

Meanwhile, Bohol which received the recognition for three years in a row from 2015 to 2017 did not qualify for the recognition as new guidelines stipulate that a province must have at least 10 percent of its LGUs conferred with the seal so it can get the SGLG itself.

Bohol which has 47 towns and one city would have needed five SGLG recipient LGUs to qualify.

Loboc which was the lone recipient in 2018 did not meet the requirements for the SGLG this year.

Although the DILG raised the criteria, more LGUs received the SGLG in 2019 at 380. The figure is 44 percent higher than last year’s 263 recipients.

Based on DILG data, there are 81 provinces, 145 cities and 1,489 municipalities in the country as of June 2019.  (A. Doydora)