Lamitan City now tagged with DILG good governance seal

LAMITAN CITY -- Fish vendor Taradji Otal on Saturday said he is ignorant of what the Seal of Good Local Governance, or SGLG, is all about but is certain the city’s having been tagged with it is extraordinary.

Residents in the 45 barangays of Lamitan City, the capital of Basilan province, had never even thought their homeland will become an SGLG holder so soon, after having been devastated by conflicts and a spate of bombings perpetrated by Islamic militants in most contemporary years. The yearly grant of SGLG to performing local government units is an activity of the central office of the Department of Interior and Local Government, now under a Mindanaon secretary, Ismael Mike Sueno, who hails from Koronadal City in Administrative Region 12.It is awarded to municipal, provincial and city governments that meet stringent standards, including sound financial administration human security disaster preparedness business competitiveness and peace and order. I only felt it was possibly related to how Lamitan City had improved and moved on from troubles and from poverty, Otal, 45, said in Filipino, in heavy Samah accent.Lamitan City started as a fledgling municipality in the early 1970s when then President Ferdinand Marcos converted what originally was Basilan City into a province covering six towns, Lamitan among them, with a stroke of pen, without even going through a plebiscite owing to the country's being under Martial Law at that time.As a peace offering, Marcos also subsequently designated erstwhile Moro secessionist rebels, who had just availed then of Malacañang’s amnesty program, as mayors of some of the six newly-created towns.Lamitan town became a chartered city more than a decade ago through the efforts of then Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Gerry Salapuddin, who authored its creation via a legislative measure which he fought for in Congress.Like the fish vendor Otal, 35-year-old carpenter Felimon Cerna, who is of Zamboangueño descent, said he just guessed that the SGLG citation Lamitan City just got from DILG was something about how its 45 component-barangay governments are struggling to help the local sectors rise from underdevelopment caused by conflicts and poverty. Lamitan City had so many ups and downs in years past. It was for the `bayanihan’ efforts of barangay officials and local executives that made the city bounce back from each fall, he said in Chavacano.The Lamitan City LGU is presently being managed by spouses Rose and Roderick Furigay, incumbent city mayor and vice mayor, respectively.They were first elected in tandem in 2013 and were both unopposed in their reelection bids during the May 9, 2016 elections. Roderick was mayor of Lamitan City for three consecutive terms before he was first elected vice mayor in 2013.Furigay said it was for the dedication of her constituent-barangay captains and the cooperation of their Sangguniang Panglunsod and the division chiefs in her office that gave Lamitan City the leverage to qualify for this year’s SGLG recognition.It was Sueno no less who announced Lamitan City’s having been granted the 2016 SGLG citation via a letter he sent to Furigay early this month.

Leticia Gammad, chairperson of Barangay Malinis here, said on Saturday it took her time to fully comprehend the text messages announcing the feat that circulated in Lamitan City right after their mayor received the written advisory from Sueno. I know we have good governance here and that we have a very functional LGU, but receiving such recognition was surprising because it came not so long after we started to see peace and progress spread around Lamitan City, Gammad said.The chairman of Barangay Limook here, Kenny Lopez, said the feat will certainly boost the city’s investment potentials.

It is a known fact that investors from outside only put up businesses in areas where there is good governance, Lopez said.Furigay said what inspires them to govern efficiently is what she calls challenge that was brought before them by the present leadership in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), a consequence of its having invested in the past five years more than P1 billion for infrastructures needed to improve the city. These infrastructure projects were designed by the office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman to spur economic activities and generate livelihood opportunities for our people, Furigay said.She said credit also has to go to Hataman’s public works secretary, Engineer Don Loong, and Soler Undug, the chief of the Basilan District Engineering Office (DEO). They both managed the accomplished projects here of the ARMM government `hands-on’ and are religiously overseeing current projects as well. We are grateful to them, Furigay said.Undug, also born and raised in Basilan, received early this month an award from the Civil Service Commission for his good handling of the Basilan DEO and for his involvement in the efficient implementation of costly projects in the island province using funds allocated by the office of Hataman.