BAUKO, Mountain Province – Concerned local officials and employees of the municipal government expressed disappointment over the reported failure of the municipality to qualify for the coveted Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) award for the second year in a row because of the obvious lapses and viability of the municipal council to cooperate with the compliance of the requirements of the said recognition.
Sources, who requested anonymity for personal reasons, claimed that for this year, the municipal government will no longer be qualified for the SGLG award primarily because the municipal government failed to enact the proposed annual budget of the municipality at the end of 2019 that disqualifies the town from being given a good rating on financial housekeeping.
Last year, the municipal government failed in the SGLG award because the municipal council refused to provide the appropriate salaries and benefits for the town’s Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) as he was only given honorarium which is again a violation of good financial housekeeping among other similar criteria of the grant of the SGLG.
The source pointed out that there seems to be a grand design of majority of the members of the municipal council to allegedly discredit the present administration and negate its gains which is no longer a good sign in advancing transparent and accountable governance despite the efforts of some local officials to elevate Bauko to greater heights through the implementation of the appropriate reforms that will allow the town to be at par with other developed localities in the country.
Previously, Bauko has been a recipient of the SGLG award aside from having placed second twice in a row in the government resilience pillar of the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) that allowed Bauko to be recognized as one of the most improved municipalities in the country.
According to the source, it is high time for the voters in the municipality to learn about the performance of their elected officials so that they will not repeat the mistake of having to vote for non-performing officials who are only after their salaries and the projects that will be funded and not taking into consideration the welfare of the people through the putting in place of necessary programs and projects that tend to improve the status of the municipality.
He narrated that many of the municipal officials and employees have been demoralized over the obvious failure of majority of the members of the municipal council in supporting the programs, projects and activities of the present administration considering that they do not want the local government to succeed in its current endeavors for blatant political reasons which should not be the case because what is being done is for the welfare of the greater majority of the town’s populace and not for any other petty reason.
The source explained that the members of the municipal council simply opted to delay the approval of the proposed annual budget of the local government and allowed the same to extend up to January before favorably acting on the same instead of having approved the budget late last year pursuant to existing rules and regulations and part of the conditions of good financial housekeeping.
By HENT