Five Bulacan Towns Awarded the Seal of Good Local Governance

The Manila Hotel Tent City- District 2 towns dominated the awards with four of its seven towns passed and were bestowed the seal of good local governance. Angat town, from District 3, was the lone awardee not belonging to the second district.

The Municipalities of Angat, Baliwag, Bustos, Guiguinto and Plaridel were recognized by the Department of Interior and Local Government as outstanding municipalities having passed four core criteria namely: financial administration, disaster preparedness, social protection and public order and public safety. All of the four criteria must be met indicating presence of important plans such as Comprehensive Land Use Plan, Comprehensive Development Plan, Local Development Plan, Executive-Legislative Agenda, Municipal DisasterPlan, Contigency Plan, Public Financial Management Assessment Tool, Nutrition Action Plan and Public Order and Public Safety Plan and The Gender and Development Plan.

Updated Codes

The Sanggunian Bayan would also need to work hand in hand with the Executive Branch by making sure that mechanisms through an updated ordinance or code are available. To pass the four core criteria, the municipality is expected to have an updated Children Code, VaWC Mechanism and having to pass through a resolution all the plans mentioned.

Plantilla of Personnel

It was widely believed that this year’s deadly clincher was the creation and filling of a Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer Head with a salary grade 18. A position not created or unfilled disqualified the bid of lgus.

Infrastracture

What could be the more exciting among the four criteria were the ability of the government to provide access to persons with disabilities such as ramps and comfort rooms. Functionality, appropriateness and correctness of the consruction were important for validators even to the point of measuring gradient, width and height of rails. Any small deviation of the gradient meant disqualification. Availability of parking spaces and that these were free from nuissance were checked too.

Essential Criteria

There are three essential criteria such as Business Friendliness and Competitiveness, Environment Protection and lastly, Arts Culture and Tourism.

To receive the seal, only one of the three criteria must be fully met.

Veteran Mayors and District 2

Only Baliwag Mayor Ferdie V. Estrella is the rookie among the five mayors who received the award. Angat Mayor Leonardo de Leon (missed the ceremony), Bustos Mayor Arnel Mendoza, Guiguinto Mayor Ambrosio Cruz and Plaridel Mayor Jocelle Vistan are all last termers if not second termer.