Tacurong City receives DILG Seal of Good Housekeeping

The City of Tacurong was awarded a Seal of Good Housekeeping (SGH) by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in recognition of the city’s excellent performance in local governance.

DILG XII Regional Director Buagas Sulaik officially informed City Mayor Lina Montilla of the award in a letter received by the latter on June 24, 2011.

Tacurong, which belongs to the second batch of SGH recipients this year, is one among the only five cities in the Philippines and the only one from Mindanao belonging to the 4^th to 6^th class to be conferred with the award. The other awardees for the cities category are Alaminos, Pangasinan; Candan, Ilocos Sur; Passi, Iloilo; and Vigan, Ilocos Sur. They are joined by municipalities belonging to the 4^th to 6^th class stamped also with SGH seal.

The Seal of Good Housekeeping is a mechanism comprising a set of criteria aimed at recognizing Local government Units (LGUs) with good performance in internal housekeeping particularly in the areas of Planning, Sound Fiscal Management, Transparency and Accountability, and Valuing Performance Management.

Among the key components of the SGH criteria are compliance to the mandates of the Anti-Red Tape Act as well as to the Full Disclosure Policy of the DILG. Further, LGUs stamped with Good Housekeeping Seal should have “no adverse” report from the Commission on Audit, which means that they should have complied with all the requirements of the government’s auditing agency. Emphasis is also given to the LGU’s compliance to the mandates of the Anti-Red Tape Act.

Tacurong was evaluated in March by the team from DILG Regional Office. Several data were gathered from offices concerned; interviews were conducted; and even the records of the local police station were checked as to the peace and order condition of the locality. After passing the regional evaluation, Tacurong made it through the National Table Assessment and Validation, and subsequently stamped with SGH Seal.

Director Sulaik also informed Mayor Montilla that by passing the national assessment on Good Housekeeping, Tacurong is now eligible to access the 2011 Performance Challenge Fund (PCF) amounting to three (3) million pesos. The PCF is an incentive fund to LGUs in the form of counterpart for projects to be financed from the 20% component of the LGU’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).

Mayor Montilla is ecstatic at the recent accomplishment of LGU Tacurong. “I am very happy with the most recent award we received, but then again ,we only have to work harder; after all, this is what we, public servants, are expected to do”, Mayor Montilla said.

Less than a year since assuming office as the mayor of Tacurong, the LGU has already received two national awards, the first of which was the Seal of Excellence from the Civil Service Commission in December 2010. (Allan Freno, LGU-Tacurong City)

Mayor Montilla repeats last year’s memo: No facebook, computer games during office hours

            Stop or face disciplinary action. This is the marching order of Mayor Lina Montilla after getting reports that there are still some employees accessing social networking sites and playing computer games during office hours.

            Mayor Montilla’s directive is stated in Memorandum Order No. 11-172, issued on June 8, 2011, the subject of which is ‘Reiteration of Internal Policies’. The said memo is a stern reminder of what was provided in the first Administrative Order issued by the mayor last year.

            While other local government units had just recently ordered the prohibition of browsing social networking sites during office hours, employees of the city government of Tacurong had been told to do so in August 2010, a month after Mayor Montilla was sworn in as mayor of the city.

            Administrative Order No. 01 provides that ‘playing of computer games, internet surfing and social networking are strictly prohibited during office hours and those who will not abide by it shall be dealt with administratively’.

            During the Monday flag-raising ceremony on June 13, Mayor Montilla urged all employees to follow what is stated in the internal policies of the local government. She added that to be efficient and effective service providers, they must optimize their working hours doing what they are paid to do.

            In 2010, the city government of Tacurong was awarded the Seal of Excellence by the Civil Service Commission, a proof that the city was among the LGUs to carry out the provisions of the Anti-Red Tape Act. The city got the recognition as the one among the only six LGUs in the country to receive the said award. “We must always strive to be worthy of the award that we receive, and following our internal policies is one way of standing by it”, the mayor said.

Further, to guarantee that the new memo is effectively enforced, Mayor Montilla had instructed the Information Technology Section to disable in the main server of internet connection most common social networking sites such as facebook.

            The mayor also directed the IT personnel to inspect all computers of the city government and delete all computer games that are saved in the hard drives.

Likewise, Mayor Montilla stood firm on her previous directive that no employees goes out of the city hall building during office house except for those who have permission slips or authorization from the head of office. “I have already deployed persons to monitor the employees who transact personal business outside of their office during working hours, specifically those who are going to the department stores and other establishments’, she said.

On austerity measures

            The city government also continues to implement austerity measures especially on electrical consumption, office supplies and fuel utilization. The measure, embodied also in the Administrative Order No. 1 issued last year, is one vital way to cope with the rising cost of basic utilities and various supplies.

            On electrical use, all air conditioners are turned on at 8:30 a.m. and turned off at 11:30 a.m. In the afternoon, switching on is at 1:00 p.m. up to 4:00 p.m.

            Conservation and recycling of office supplies is also practiced such as using the back portion of used bond papers for inter-office communications.

            To minimize fuel consumption, employees should maximize sitting capacity of vehicles especially for large groups traveling in the same place in case of seminars.

            According to Mayor Montilla, these cost-effective measures among others are important initiatives to really optimize the local government resources. (Information)