The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Wednesday said the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) assessment for local government units (LGUs) this year has been deferred to allow the recalibration of the program.

The SGLG is an institutionalized incentive, honor, and recognition-based program of the DILG on the exemplary governance of LGUs to uphold transparency, accountability, and effective public service delivery.

In a statement, the agency said there is a need to recalibrate the SGLG to support long-term solutions and not just annual compliance, streamline indicators to focus on measurable impact, and improve funding mechanisms for fairer and more effective distribution.

From an annual assessment, the SGLG will shift to a term-based assessment structure to align with the three-year term of local chief executives.

This would provide LGUs adequate time to implement substantial reforms and achieve measurable results.

The DILG would also consolidate SGLG’s 10 governance areas into three key outcome areas, namely innovation, fiscal management, and crisis resilience, to make the assessment more precise and focused.

The SGLG Incentive Fund allocation shall also ensure the long-term impact of the funds by considering the socio-economic disparities among LGUs and innovations addressing unique challenges, among others.

The DILG urged LGUs to shift their efforts towards preparing for the assessment in the succeeding cycles while awaiting the new guidelines.

Earlier, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla announced the amendments regarding the reduction of governance area indicators, adjustments to the timeline of the assessment cycles, and the establishment of a board of judges for the SGLG program.

There were 714 SGLG awardees last year, 22 of them were consistent passers since its inception. (PNA)