Porac town gets P2-M from SGLG

PORAC— The Municipal Government of Porac, through Mayor Condralito dela Cruz, received P20-million after winning this year’s Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG).

Dela Cruz formally presented the additional funding before municipal employees yesterday. The mayor said that the funding serves as the local government’s “reward” as it has met all the criteria of the core components of the seal which include good financial housekeeping, social protection and disaster preparedness.

Also, the municipality has met the requirements for all the essential components of the seal in terms of business-friendliness and competitiveness, environmental management and peace and order.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) describes the SGLG award as the “conferment of a Seal to LGUs that adhere to performance criteria on any of the following areas: good financial housekeeping (GFH), disaster preparedness, social protection for the basic sector, businessfriendliness and competitiveness, environmental management, and law and order and public safety.”

Passing the seal entitles a local government unit to access the Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) for this year, allowing it to secure the GFH Certification for loan purposes and provides an opportunity to avail other national program windows like Bottom-Up Budgeting Program.

The PCF is an incentive fund to local government units (LGUs) in the form of counterpart funding to high-impact capital investment projects in the Annual Investment Program and the 20 percent Development Fund consistent with national priorities. It is open to all provinces, cities and municipalities awarded with the Seal of Good Housekeeping provided that the LGU shall allocate a counterpart fund to implement capital investment projects aligned with the national development agenda and priorities.

Porac town was a passer of the Seal of Good Housekeeping in 2012 and later the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) in 2014, the perquisites to qualify for the PCF. The SGLG is given to LGUs with good performance in internal housekeeping, especially on sound fiscal management, transparency, accountability, and performance management.

Dela Cruz said that they will be reviewing the parameters for the use of the funds as the municipality will be allocating it for programs this coming fiscal year.

“This funding serves as proof of our commitment for transparent and effective governance,” Dela Cruz said.