Macrohon ascended to
the regional champion level among 4th to 6th class towns, edging out
the much-improved Babatngon, Leyte and defending titlist Cabucgayan,
Biliran (2nd runner-up); and past champion Balangiga, Eastern Samar
(3rd runner-up).
Maasin City’s victory
was no less sweet, for though it was the only component city to
qualify under the search’s strict criteria, it bagged the Hall of Fame
award for copping the title for three straight years. The awards were
handed out to Mayor Maloney Samaco, Vice-Mayor Effie Sabandal,
sanggunian members and staff, by DILG Undersecretary Austere A.
Panadero, subbing in for His Excellency President Benigno S. Aquino
IIII and DILG Secretary Jesse M. Robredo who could not make the
appointment due to pressing concerns in the Philippine capital.
In other categories
Catarman, Northern Samar was declared winner over Hilongos, Leyte (1st
runner-up) and Naval, Biliran (2nd runner-up) among 1st to 3rd class
municipalities. Ormoc City won in the Highly Urbanized City /
Independent Component City category.
In the President’s
speech read by Undersecretary Panadero, he gave credit to DILG and PCL
for instituting the search to highlight best practices among
sanggunians and other capacity building initiatives even as he
challenged councilors to move their LGUs to comply with the intent and
letter of the DILG Memorandum Circular on Full Disclosure of public
finances, which has been adopted under the 2011 General Appropriations
Act and is a component of the COA audit. The President called the
full disclosure memorandum the most concrete anti corruption tool that
will allow citizens to engage in governance and make their LGUs
accountable.
The President also
urged local governments to be more proactive in identifying relevant
issues and instituting reforms. Particularly local governments must
attune their goals to national thrusts. President Aquino also
stressed on the importance of building the capacities of communities
to be resilient in times of disasters and expects LGUs to adopt
climate change management framework in development planning.
Aside from DILG
Undersecretary Panadero, other officials present in the awards
ceremony were Deputy House Speaker Lorenzo "Erin" Tañada III, PCL
National President Ronald Carcellar, PCL National Chairman Allan
Zulueta, Leyte LMP President Remedios "Matin" L. Petilla, DILG-8
Director Francisco C. Jose, and Mayor Gerardo Espina Sr. of Kawayan,
Biliran who was presented a 1-Million pesos grant of the Performance
Challenge Fund, as a reward from the DILG for passing its Seal of Good
Housekeeping criteria. The fund would be used for projects that
address MDG targets, or the country's commitments to the Millennium
Development Goals.
The LLA was first
launched in the year 2000 as the Most Outstanding Sangguniang Bayan
awards by DILG and PCL. It was adopted into a nationwide search in
2006 called Local Legislative Awards to include cities.
The local sanggunians
were evaluated from the period June 30, 2009 to June 30, 2010 and were
judged based on five criteria: 1. Effectiveness of the Legislative
Agenda (20 pts.); 2. Effectiveness of the Legislative Tracking System
(25 pts.) 3. Availability of Legislative Documents (10 pts.); 4.
Efficiency of Performance of the Sanggunian (25 pts.); and 5. Quality
of Office set-up and staff complement (20 pts.)
Announcement of
rankings and winners for the municipal categories were done during the
awards ceremony itself. On the other hand, the cities of Ormoc and
Maasin were the only ones that qualified in their categories for this
year’s search.
Plaques for the
winners were produced by DILG while the 10,000 cash for awardees was
shouldered by PCL. Other program partners are the Department of Budget
and Management (DBM), Department of Agriculture (DA) and the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) which are also
part of the regional evaluation team that validated the results at the
provincial levels.
The objectives of
the LLA recognizing excellence in local legislation dovetails with the
slogan “Tapat na Palakad, Bayang Maunlad” of Biyaheng Pinoy, the DILG
program to celebrate 20 years of local autonomy.
