The department and office heads of the Bacolod City government attended a seminar on Integrity Circle Orientation and Assessment held at the Government Center last November 27.

At the end of the seminar, they submitted their Integrity Self-Assessment Tool (ISAT) for Local Government Units (LGUs).

Mayor Evelio Leonardia also joined the seminar and submitted his ISAT.

Prior to the seminar, the mayor signed an Integrity Pledge last Friday as a symbol of commitment to advance integrity and good local governance.

The ISAT aims to assist signatories of the Integrity Pledge in examining the scope and effectiveness of integrity policies and practices in their respective LGUs.

This tool provides a framework that examines focus areas known to be susceptible to corruption and puts forward a set of control measures that can address their vulnerabilities.

It gives LGUs an idea on how they fare in terms of integrity practices. More importantly, the assessment tool provides areas for improvement to strengthen the LGU’s overall integrity practices.

The seminar was conducted by Local Government Integrity Circle (LoGIC) Network project manager Patrick Asiñero.

Asiñero said the objective of the seminar is to improve the competitiveness of City Hall executives and help them in the local implementation of the Ease of Doing Business Law (RA 11032) and the new Seal of Good Local Governance Law (RA 11292).

The City Government of Bacolod has recently earned a Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) national award from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). Bacolod was one of only 57 out of 145 cities in the country to receive the SGLG award for 2019.

The LoGIC Project—or the “Developing Countrywide a Culture of Integrity Through Multi-Sectoral Local Government Integrity Circles” Project—is a European Union co-funded project, with the Konrad-Adenauer- Stiftung as the lead project implementer.

It is co-implemented with the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Centrist Democracy Political Institute, League of Provinces of the Philippines, League of Cities of the Philippines, and League of Municipalities of the Philippines, and supports a network of LGUs advancing integrity and good local governance.

The LoGIC Project has identified 13 provinces in the country as partners, including Negros Occidental and its cities and municipalities./WDJ