The Provincial Government of Samar has once again proven its commitment to transparency, accountability, and quality public service, after successfully passing the 2025 Regional Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) Champions held on September 10, 2025.

Vice-Governor Arnold V. Tan congratulated the PLGU-Samar team, the SGLG team, and its partner stakeholders from the Samar Police Provincial Office, the Department of Education, and various civil society organizations for this achievement. He emphasized that the province has consistently gone beyond expectations, as evidenced by its four previous SGLG awards in 2016, 2019, 2023, and 2024.

Meanwhile, Mr. Adrian Thomas Colasito, Local Government Monitoring and Evaluation Division Assistant Chief and at the same the Regional Assessment Team Leader, reminded everyone especially public servants, to always be mindful of their choices. He said that every action leaves traces in the lives of others, and a single decision can trigger a chain of events that ripple far beyond what we can see.

The recent assessment involved an interview, on-site inspection, and documentary validation, to ensure that Samar continues to uphold the standards of good governance. The province successfully defended its performance in key governance areas such as Financial Administration; Disaster Preparedness; Social Protection and Sensitivity; Health Compliance and Responsiveness; Sustainable Education; Business-Friendliness and Competitiveness, Environmental Management; Safety, Peace and Order, Tourism, Heritage Development, Culture, and the Arts, as well as Youth Development.

While the national SGLG assessment has been deferred in favor of a term-based evaluation, the Department of the Interior and Local Government Regional Office VIII has decided to proceed with the regional assessment to guarantee that local governments continue to excel in delivering efficient and responsive services. Region VIII is the only region in the country that carried out this Regional Assessment.