The City of Baybay in Leyte was recently awarded the 2017 Seal of Good Local Governance by the Department of the Interior and Local Government for its excellence in the core areas of financial administration, disaster preparedness, social protection, and peace and order.
A recipient of the SGLG award in 2015, Baybay also passed this year’s more stringent assessment criteria in the essential areas of business friendliness and competitiveness, tourism, culture and the arts, and environmental protection.
The barangays of the city were also declared drug-cleared by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Of the 145 charter and component cities subjected to the SGLG assessment, only 61 were certified, which gave them access to the DILG’s Performance Challenge Fund to finance their local development initiatives.
As the agro-industrial hub of Leyte province and its biggest town, Baybay was declared a component city on June 15, 2007 by virtue of Republic Act 9389.
Earlier this year, it was also granted by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources P2 million worth of fishing boats and fishing paraphernalia as part of the agency’s Coastal Resources and Fishery Management Office.