By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Negros Occidental provincial government bagged the championship in excellence in environmental governance category during the 2022 Excellence in Local Governance Awards on Monday, December 5, in Iloilo City.

The province also placed first runner-up in local legislation, economic governance, administrative governance, and social governance categories, and placed second runner-up in the public safety, peace, and order category.

“Our awards will inspire us to do better,” provincial administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz said.

The province received P20,000 as second runner-up, and P10,000 for the other areas, he said.

The Excell Awards recognizes local government units for their best practices in administrative, social, economic, and environmental governance; local legislation; and public safety, peace and order.

The Seal of Good Local Governance is an award, incentive and recognition-based program for local government units to continually progress and improve their performance in the areas of disaster preparedness; health compliance and responsiveness; financial administration; programs for sustainable education; social protection and sensitivity program business friendliness and competitiveness; environmental management, tourism, heritage development, youth development; culture and arts; and safety, peace and order./DGB, WDJ