Rodolfo Rasul, DILG regional director, said the State of the Local Government Report (SLGR) could be used to help the electorate decide in the May 14 elections.
He said all state of the town, city or province addresses should use the standard SLGR as core report. He cited that even the President's State of the Nation Address (SONA) must reflect what has been indicated in the SLGR.
"But there were portions that were not factored in in the SONA because many LGUs around the country have not accomplished their reports," he said.
The SLGR, however, is not a mandatory report, Rasul said.
He said the SLGR is the real reflection of the status of the area because it is what the people could see around them.
DILG has not yet mastered the tool in drawing out the report, he said, that is why a number of local governments have not complied with it yet.
Rasul presented the SLGR to members of the Association of the Regional Executives of National Government Agencies (ARENA) Monday as he presented the "one team, one province approach" (OTOPA).
Rasul told MindaNews the report emanated from the Local Government Code of 1991 under the auspices of the Bureau of Local Government Supervision.
According to a link to the DILG website, the government has designed a measurement system, the Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS), to effectively manage local service delivery.
"The result of the LGPMS implementation is the State of Local Governance Report (SLGR) that serves as a useful guide for the local officials in the formulation of their local development agenda. The SLGR is also a feedback mechanism for national government agencies, civil society organizations and funding organizations to rationalize development efforts and effectively determine what resources are needed by the LGUs and where they are most needed."
Rasul said the SLGR contains both quantitative and qualitative ratings of the LGU's performance under the management of the local chief executives – the mayor or the governor.
Rasul said if they could master the reporting process conducted using validated responses to uniform survey questions, it could already be available for the 2010 elections.
He said most LGUs submit their accomplishment reports for now, which he said could be a "pink picture" of their actual performance.
He said the accomplishment report could be full of the good side of their performance only.
But Rasul said they needed to work with all national government agencies that work with local governments in perfecting the good governance measurement.
He said they would most likely be able to master the plan preparation of standard questionnaires for the survey in validating the SLGRs.
He said component towns and cities are supposed to report to the provincial government about their performance. The provincial government are then ought to report the DILG national office through the supervising bureau.
"But it's going to be a long shot deal for the government to make its measurement system work out," he said.
