LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Concerned local officials and residents criticized the provincial office of the Department of the Interior and Local government (DILG) for alleged insensitivity that virtually spoiled the merrymaking of the public during the celebration of the province’s 124th founding anniversary and Adivay festival at the Benguet Sports Complex last week.
Part of the program for the grounding anniversary program and Adivay festival was the conferment of the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) of the eight municipalities that successfully passed the 10 governance standards that virtually embarrassed the local officials of the five towns that were not passers for the said prestigious award.
“We went to attend the founding anniversary program and grand cañao for us to celebrate another year of success for our province. However, we did not expect that the DILG provincial office will confer the SGLG award to the passers which was not supposed to be because the program was intended for a celebration for everyone and not for a few” a concerned municipal official, who requested anonymity for personal reasons, stressed.
The eight towns that were conferred the coveted SGLG award for municipalities were Bokod, Buguias, Kapangan, Kibungan, La Trinidad, Sablan, Tuba, Tublay while the five municipalities that were not successful passers were Atok, Bakun, Mankayan, Kabayan and Itogon.
Another observer claimed that the failure of the five municipalities to pass the SGLG criteria does not mean that their local officials did nothing to achieve the passing grade but their efforts were actually not sufficient to hurdle the stringent criteria, thus, it is unfair to compare them to those who were able to pass the SGLG award for the year.
According to some sources, some of the local officials of the towns that were not successful SGLG passers actually left the gymnasium when the conferment of the SGLG passers was underway because they felt embarrassed that they are being projected in public as not having done anything to pass the prestigious recognition being given to the localities who were able to pass the criteria of the award.
The sources added that the local officials who left the gymnasium eventually ended up joining their constituents in their respective booths to celebrate the province’s founding anniversary although they were not actually feeling well because of what happened inside the gymnasium.
Other local officials simply shrugged the said incident off and vowed to work double time to ensure that their respective municipalities will be able to pass the 10 governance standards of the SGLG next year although they did not agree to what was done by the organizers of the event, including the DILG provincial office.
Sources challenged the DILG provincial office to be sensitive in making future decisions so that such conferment of SGLG recognitions should be done in fitting ceremonies and not in an event designed for merrymaking as the same might spoil the momentum of the event and the desire of the people to participate in the activities. By Dexter A. See
