All Cebu LGUs pass DILG’s GFH

All local government units in Cebu passed the 2017 Good Financial Housekeeping (GFH) Assessment by the Department of Interior and Local Governance.

This accounts for the 44 towns, 10 cities, and the provincial government. The national results were posted yesterday by DILG on its official website.

Although Cebu remains constant in its passing rate, the overall ratings of Region VII dropped from 97 percent in 2017 to 93 percent this year.

The same is true with the overall rating of the country. Last year, 91 percent of all the municipalities, cities, and provinces passed but it went down to 91 percent this year.

The assessment covers 80 provinces, 143 cities, and 1,491 municipalities. All 110 local government units in Region VII were included in the assessment last year. But with the dissolution of the Negros Island Region, Negros Oriental was added in this year’s assessment of the Central Visayas. This accounts for 26 additional LGUs and results to a total of 136 LGUs in the region for 2017.

Under DILG Memorandum Circular 2014-39, GFH is one of the six components where a local government is to be assessed before they can be granted the Seal of Good Local Governance.

For one local government unit to pass the GFH, the memorandum stated that an LGU that must exhibit compliance with accounting and auditing standards, rules and regulations. The two major modes for showing transparency are the posting of the financial statements in three conspicuous places in their respective LGU offices and the posting in the Full Disclosure Policy(FDP) portal.

It cited other examples of assessment proofs like compliance with the full disclosure policy of local budget and finances, bids and public offerings as well as copies of annual budget, statement of receipts and expenditures, annual procurement plan or procurement list, and bid results on civil works, goods, services and consulting services.

As stipulated in the memo, the annual data collection and regional validation happens from April to July. It is the same period when the data for the Child-Friendly Local Governance is also collected.

The tabulation and national validation is done from July to September by the national assessment team composed of the Bureau of Local Government Supervision (BLGS) together with DILG-partners: the League of Provinces, Cities, and Municipalities, representatives from the academe, private sectors and civil society organizations.

The results are expected to be out by October.