[Editorials of The Connection] The aspired ‘award’ on local governance

Since the beginning of the Aquino administration’s term, the Department of Interior and Local Government has been handing out awards to local government units. One of those awards is the Seal of Good Housekeeping, which aims to recognize LGUs’ efforts—particularly, internal housekeeping—in relation to good governance.
That check on a municipality’s / city’s / province’s good governance efforts internally span four areas: good planning, sound fiscal management, transparency and accountability, and the valuing of performance monitoring. LGUs’ specific duties such
as planning, budgeting, revenue and resource mobilization, budget execution, financial management, and procurement are criteria in DILG’s good housekeeping test. Recipient LGUs of the award, especially fourth-to-sixth class provinces, cities and municipalities, are then made eligible for DILG’s Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) that gives LGUs a facility to co-finance
an identified LGU-run project, with DILG co-financing the LGU project.
This Seal of Good Housekeeping award was initially handed out to low-income municipalities, until the DILG’s budget for good performing LGUs such shot up and more LGUs— to now include cities and higher-income municipalities and provinces— got their own Seal of Good Housekeeping awards from the DILG. As of this writing, all of Batangas province’s three cities and 17 of the
31 municipalities won Seal of Good Housekeeping awards, and the province itself won (making one wonder if it is really that easy to get the Seal of Good Housekeeping award).
But while many LGUs have received the Seal of Good Housekeeping award, only fewer provinces, cities and municipalities will get
DILG’s second award, the Pamana ng Lahi award. The award looks at the LGU’s performance not just through the Seal of Good Housekeeping award, but through criteria such as administrative governance, social governance (i.e. social services provision),
economic governance (e.g. local taxation, business growth, etc.), and environmental governance (or environmental protection). Innovations done by the LGU, as well as previous awards the LGU received, are also criteria in the Pamana ng Lahi award —somewhat the DILG’s equivalent to the more established award for LGUs: the Galing Pook awards (handed out by a nonprofit organization).
These awards by the DILG all aim to push local governments to do better performances, especially now that local autonomy (as mandated by the Local Government Code of 1991, or Republic Act 7160) is a two decade-old occurrence. But prior to the handing
out of these awards, DILG has had means to determine the performance of LGUs through an annual checklist that it calls the Local Governance Performance Monitoring System (LGPMS).
Local governments have long been criticized for being less capable in governing, and these LGUs’ receipt of the Seal of Good Housekeeping means that internally, the local government unit’s capabilities are improving. But for the ordinary resident in a
municipality, city or province whose local government has won those awards from DILG, what does the award mean to them?
The award’s supposed to mean that local officials are being transparent and accountable to citizens, and have been earning as much local incomes that can be used in the delivery of economic and social services to residents. The award also means that
red tape, the long-standing complaint of residents unto government personnel, is radically minimized. If the local government got the Seal of Good Housekeeping, it’s supposed to mean that hope for change begins —or has already begun— in the once-sleepy
rural areas.
Yet hauling the DILG’s Seal of Good Housekeeping or Pamana ng Lahi award is no guarantee that local governments have changed (entirely) for the better. Local residents, therefore, should always be —and must remain— on guard for socio-economic and political developments surrounding the hometown. Local political dynamics, even with the introduction of these DILG awards, are as colorful as ever. Remember, another set of local and national elections is coming up this May 2013.
The DILG’s awards are a step towards local political reform, especially targeted at the local tiers of government. Local governance has long been seen as the venue to achieve development goals, especially since needs are identified from the ground
and services are directly handed out to residents. In the Philippines, when the topic is about local governance, only a few LGUs always ring a bell.
But for local constituents whose LGUs got those awards, they can only hope that displaying sincere, innovative public service —all of which they directly feel from local chief executives and other local officials— strike a chord unto local leaders. That’s the biggest award to aspire for, even if without a cash prize or a plaque.

About Jeremaiah Opiniano