75 ARMM LGUs pass DILG’s Seal of Good Financial Housekeeping

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Three provinces, one city, and 71 municipalities located in the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have passed the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) standards for Seal of Good Financial Housekeeping in 2018.

DILG-ARMM Secretary Kirby Matalam Abdullah said this is a huge leap from zero passer in 2015, when local government units (LGUs) in the region were still adjusting to the good governance drive of the ARMM’s current administration.

Abdullah said two of these LGUs Pandag and Northern Kabuntalan from the province of Maguindanao are even non-IRA (internal revenue allotment) municipalities.

Non-IRA towns, received meager assistance from the regional government and are LGUs created prior to 1991 that failed to meet the requirements in the creation of municipalities under the Local Government Code, or R.A. 7160.

“I am so happy na may dalawang nakapasok na non-IRA, it shows that they are adhering to the principles of good governance,” Abdullah said. It is a also a sign that the LGUs in the ARMM are on the right path.

Sec. Abdullah explained that to pass good financial housekeeping standards, the LGUs must receive qualified and unqualified opinion from the Commission on Audit (COA).

Such standards are among the components of the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG), which is conferred to LGUs which pass the reporting guidelines of the COA, and declare their financial reports under the full disclosure policy, he said.