46 LGUs get P91-million Gawad Pamana Awards

Press Release
By DILG Regional Office 8
October 13, 2011

TACLOBAN CITY  –  Some 46 provinces, cities and municipalities throughout the 13 regions of the country were awarded on Tuesday a total of P91-million as incentives for good governance under the government’s Gawad Pamana ng Lahi program.

The funds came from the DILG’s Congress-appropriated P500 million Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) aimed to serve as incentives for the country’s local government units to adopt transparent, accountable and participatory governance.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M. Robredo and Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) president, Oriental Mindoro Gov. Alfonso Umali, Jr. presented the awards to the beneficiary LGUs during the culminating activity of the Biyaheng Pinoy, a yearlong celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Local Government Code, held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

The awards consisted of a trophy and a check of P3-million for each provincial winner, a trophy plus a check of P2-million for each of the city awardees, and a trophy and a check of P1-million for each municipal winner.

The governors and mayors of the recipient LGUs personally received the checks to serve as funding support for the implementation of programs and projects under the Millennium Development Goal.

Robredo said the Gawad Pamana ng Lahi is conferred to local government units for their exemplary performance across major development initiatives in administrative governance, social governance, economic governance and environmental governance.

“Through this awards program, we aim to recognize the invaluable contribution of LGUs that have continuously adhered to the good governance principles of transparency, accountability and inclusivity in local administration and development,” he said.

Of the 46 regional winners, 15 were provinces, 15 were cities and 16 were municipalities.

The provincial awardees include the provinces of La Union, Quirino, Bulacan, Cavite, Marinduque, Albay, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Leyte, Zamboanga del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Compostela Valley, Cotabato, Agusan del Norte and Benguet, while the cities were: San Fernando, Santiago, San Fernando, Antipolo, Puerto Princesa, Ligao, Iloilo, Cebu, Ormoc, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Tagum, Kidapawan, Surigao, and Tabuk.

On the other hand, the municipal awardees were: Tagudin (Ilocos Sur); Ilagan (Isabela); Llanera (Nueva Ecija); Carmona (Cavite); Odiongan (Romblon); Tiwi (Albay); New Lucena (Iloilo); Amlan (Negros Oriental); Naval (Biliran); Labason (Zamboanga del Norte); Opol (Misamis Oriental); Laak (Compostela Valley); Surallah (South Cotabato); Cagwait (Surigao del Sur); Sta. Marcela (Apayao); and Sultan Mastura (Maguindanao).

The DILG Secretary said the LGUs were chosen based on the following criteria: scores in the development indices from the Local Governance Performance Management System, (LGPMS), the Seal of Good Housekeeping, organization of national government bestowed awards, and acknowledged innovations.

“We expect the Gawad Pamana ng Lahi awardees to sustain their outstanding performance and serve as shining exemplars of good governance,” Robredo said.

Meanwhile, the DILG informed that in line with the celebration of the 20th year of the LGC, seven (7) LGUs will be conferred the Seal of Good Housekeeping in the afternoon of Friday, October 14, 2011 at the DILG-8 Regional Office in Tacloban City, while the two LGUs granted the SGH earlier this year - Biliran and Almeria both in Biliran province, will receive the Performance Challenge Fund counterpart incentive worth 1 Million Pesos each.