In line with the 26th anniversary of the Local Government Code (LGC), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) opened today a two-day event that will highlight the best practices of local government units (LGUs) that are worthy of emulation.
Dubbed as the “Festival of Best Practices”, the market-place and fiesta-themed event, which is ongoing at the Novotel Manila in Quezon City, aims to showcase the remarkable initiatives and programs of LGUs that they have implemented using the powers and authority granted to them under the LGC.
Signed in 1991, Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code, which is considered as the bible of local governance, provides for a more responsive and accountable local government structure whereby LGUs are given more powers, authority, responsibilities and resources instituted through a system of decentralization.
The best local government practices that will be showcased revolve around the following themes: Environment-Protective, Climate Change Adaptive and Disaster Resilient LGUs; Business-Friendly and Competitive LGUs; Socially Protective and Safe LGUs; and Accountable, Transparent, Participative, and Effective Local Governance.
Among the local chief executives who will present their respective programs are: Batanes Gov. Marilou H. Cayco on The Epitome of Disaster Resiliency; Cauayan City Mayor Bernard Faustino Dy on on Public-Private Partnership in Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals; Piddig, Ilocos Norte Mayor Georgina Salazar on Organic Coffee Plantation and Farm Consolidation; Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur Mayor Mark Pacalioga on Organic Agriculture and Governance; and Quezon City Vice-Mayor Josefina Belmonte-Alimurung on Tahanan Drug Rehabilitation Program.
Other presenters are Iloilo City CDRRMO Donna Magno on Disaster Risk Resiliency Hub; City of San Fernando’s Regulator Simplification: Agaplikar, Agbayad, Alaen; and Carmona, Cavite MPDO Mildred Purificacion on Your Embrace, My Hope: Transforming the Lives of PWDs.
Organized by the DILG’s Local Government Academy (LGA), in partnership with the Galing Pook Foundation (GPF), the event also includes the presentation and awarding of the 2017 Galingpook Outstanding Local Governance Programs, and a Forum on Renewable Energy for LGUs.
“The Festival of Best Practices is a festivity wherein the LGUs can learn and further push good local governance in their respective communities. We hope to promote, encourage and bring forth considerable harvests of best practices in local governments which were significantly brought about by the passage of the Local Government Code,” says DILG OIC-Secretary Catalino S. Cuy.
Cuy says the event is also a platform for the DILG to promote their program, the Local Governance Innovative Solutions Bank, a web-based application that enables LGUs to access or “withdraw” the best practices that exemplar LGUs have “deposited”. ###
