BALANGA CITY, Bataan – The Department of Interior and Local Government on Tuesday announced that this city was one of the three cities in Region 3 getting the much-coveted “Seal of Good Housekeeping” award and received a cash prize of P3 million.
DILG Region 3 director Florida M. Dijon said the awardees will be receiving the awards and cash prizes from Pres. Benigno Aquino III in Malacañang.
Dijon said they are on their second year of giving the award to deserving municipalities in the Philippines. However, this was the first time that they have awarded it to a city.
Other winners in Central Luzon include Palayan City and the Science City of Munoz, all in Nueva Ecija.
“Ipinagkakaloob lamang ang ‘Seal of Good Housekeeping’ sa mga excellent ang performance at ang pinakamatindi ang pagiging transparent o may full disclosure ang isang bayan o siyudad,” Dijon said.
“Excellent ang performance at hayag ang panunungkulan ni Mayor Jose Enrique Garcia III kaya marapat lamang na magkaroon ang Balanga ng ganitong award,” the director said.
She added that there are other cities that are successful but failed in their criteria for lack of transparency.
Dijon was in Balanga in the signing of the memorandum of agreement with Garcia in the DILG SGA-PCF (Performance Challenge fund) P6-million Project.
This city also received P3 million cash, prompting it to produce another P3 million as counterpart which will be used for various projects.
Garcia thanked DILG for the prestigious award.
“Bagama’t malaking tulong ang cash prize na P3 million, mas mahalaga ang award sapagka’t kinikilala nito ang matapat na panunungkulan at nagsisilbing inspirasyon sa mga manggagawa ng cityhall upang lalo nilang pakabutihin ang paglilingkod,” the mayor said.
He announced that out of the P6 million, P4 million will go to the 50-kilometer farm-to-market-roads in barangays of Cabog-Cabog, Munting Batangas and Dangcol. The remaining P2 million will be used in flood control projects in barangay Bagong Silang and the five-year old Balanga City High School.
The mayor said that the Balanga City government since 2008 has been giving awards and incentives for the “Most Outstanding Barangays” among its 25 villages.
The top winner will receive P2 million worth of projects, P1.5 million for the second placer and P1 million for the third placer.
