DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio admitted that she is not confident that the city would bag the Seal of Good Local Governance Award because of the requirement to have drug-free barangays.
Duterte-Carpio, in a media interview Thursday, August 17, said that this is due to the requirement she is still contesting to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the agency that makes final assessment for the local government units’ effectivity.
"Yes the city is prepared but dili kaayo ko optimistic nga makuha ang seal of good local governance karon kay there is one requirement from the DILG in which the city mayor shall be required to certify the barangays as drug free. Gi-contest namo ni siya sa level sa secretary sa DILG because it is an unreasonable requirement because sa kadako sa barangay walay measurement siya; wala siya'y criteria nganong nakasulti ka nga drug free ang usa ka barangay (The city is prepared but I am not very optimistic that we can get the seal of good local governance this year because there is one requirement from the DILG in which the city mayor is required to certify the barangays as drug-free. We contested this to the level of the secretary of the DILG because it is an unreasonable requirement because of the population of barangay, there is no measurement and criteria that you can say that a barangay is a drug free barangay)," Duterte-Carpio said.
She added that she refused to sign mayor's certification because of lack of parameters and basis of the declaration.
"Nag-refuse ko mag-sign and giingnan ko nila na this will affect the assessment para sa seal of good governance. Niingon ko sa ila nga okay lang basta dili ta mamakak and dili ta deceiving sa atong papers na ihatag sa ilaha para lang makakuha ta ug award (I refused to sign [the papers] and they told me that this will affect the assessment for the seal of good local governance. I told them that it is ok, for as long as we will be truthful and that we won't be deceiving anyone with the papers that we will pass to comply with the award)," she added.
She added that she has already drafted the letter to the DILG questioning the certification of drug-free barangays within the city to add points to the assessment.
"Ang gusto nako sa ila na kung magpa-certify sila og drug free barangay sa Davao. Dapat naa silay criteria dili nang, because nag-certify ang chief of police, nag-certify ang barangay captain, mag-certify nalang pud ko. Without measurement and criteria nganon gnakasulti ka nga drug free barangay na siya (What I want is that if they will certify drug free barangay in Davao City, they should have a criteria. Not because the chief of police or barangay captain certified it, that I will also certify it. Without measurement and criteria, how can they say that it is a drug free barangay)," she added.
Davao City Planning Office officer-in-charge Ivan Cortez, in an interview Monday, said the national validators from Cebu City arrived last Monday for the final leg of validation.
The initial validation was conducted by the LGUs from Davao Del Sur.
The city is gearing for the award since winning it would mean personnel benefit incentives for city employees.