The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Friday urged the 350 local government units that were awarded the 2022 Seal of Good Local Governance Award to use their incentives as subsidy for “high-impact” projects in their locality.
In a statement Friday, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said that 18 provinces, 60 cities, and 272 municipalities have the opportunity to use the incentive fund they received due to winning SGLG 2022 for projects that will greatly help their constituents.
“We urge you to use this fund to affect positive change through high impact projects within your jurisdiction. Use this fund to improve service delivery to our citizens and make your areas prosperous,” Abalos said.
The SGLG incentive fund was established through Republic Act 11292 or SGLG Act of 2019 which aims to harmonize local government initiatives with the national development agenda.
“You may use these funds throughout the year, but it must be utilized for projects that are new, complete and have no similar and existing project implemented by other agencies. All the projects must be completed and liquidated in 12 months upon the receipt of the Notice to Implement from the DILG Regional Office,” said the DILG chief.
Abalos also reminded LGUs through its DILG Memorandum Circular 2023-019 that the SGLG incentive fund can only be used for projects that support the following: Good fiscal administration; disaster preparedness; social protection and sensitivity program; health; education; peace and order and public safety; and business friendliness and competitiveness.
He urged the LGUs officials that the said fund cannot be used for training projects, financing of micro credits and loans, administrative and traveling expenses, purchase of administrative office equipment, lot, and purchase, maintenance or repair of motor vehicles that are not used for in the work of SGLG.
Abalos also stressed that if the LGU was unable to use the funds before the end of the year 2023 or fails to start implementing the project within nine months after receiving the notice to implement, the fund will be returned to the National Treasury.
He said out of 1,715 provinces, cities and municipalities nationwide, only 20.4 percent or 350 LGUs have received the SGLG last year.
Among all the regions of the country, Abalos said Region 3 (Central Luzon) garnered the highest number of awardees with a total of 61 LGUs composed of 51 municipalities, six cities and two provinces receiving the seal.