Gamiaw Regional: Most competitive cities: Naga retains top title; Legazpi is on 3rd spot

The Plaza Quince Martirez and the San Francisco Parish Church of Naga City, Bicol Region

By Emanym Si Yaj and  Jose B. Perez

PASAY CITY — For the second time in a row, Naga City secured its position as the overall most competitive Component City, along with second placer San Fernando City of Pampanga, and third placer Legazpi, another Bicol city, which finally landed in the elite Top Ten list.

Announcement of the most competitive LGUs throughout the country was made on July 14 by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) during the 4th Regional Competitiveness Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.

The summit recognizes the crucial role of local government units in promoting competitiveness in the country.

The announcement was based on the results of the 2016 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI).

Cities and towns were graded based on 30 indicators from three main categories: economic dynamism, government efficiency, and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, topping the list of overall most competitive Highly Urbanized Cities (HUC) is Quezon City followed by Makati City at 2nd and the City of Manila at 3rd place.

On the overall most competitive 1st-2nd Class Municipalities category, Cainta, Rizal took the top spot while its neighbor Taytay, Rizal moved one notch to 2nd place. Last year’s overall top municipality General Trias, Cavite slipped to 3rd rank.

On the other hand, Infanta, Quezon emerged as the overall most competitive 3rd-6th Class Municipality, with Baler, Aurora in the 2nd notch, while Calamba, Misamis Occidental placed third.
As in the past rankings, none of the Bicol provinces is in the list of most competitive provinces.  Rizal Province leads this category, followed by Cavite and South Cotabato for the top three.

Among the municipalities, only the Bicol town of Manito, Albay placed in the top ten, as it ranked second most competitive among the 3rd-6th class municipalities.

In 2014, Daet, Camarines Norte was hailed as the most competitive among the first class
municipalities but had not recovered to reclaim the honor when it was eased out of the top ten list in 2015.

Under the Economic Dynamism pillar for component cities, Naga City was adjudged first place as it was in 2015, while Imus Ciy (Cavite) and Binan City (Laguna) trailed in second and third places, respectively.

On the Government Efficiency pillar, Naga City falls to second place as it gives way to Cotabato City as top city with Legazpi City in third place.

Under the Infrastructure pillar, Naga City retained its foremost rank, while Bacoor City, Cavite and Legazpi City placed second and third places, respectively.

It was noted that this year’s CMCI has the largest number of participants, with 1,389 LGUs, 144 of which are cities and 1,245 are municipalities. This equals to about 85% of total LGUs in the Philippines.

When CMCI started in 2013, only 285 or 17% of the LGUs in the country joined the index. The data used were gathered with the help of the 16 Regional Competitiveness Council (RCCs), which are composed of public and private sectors and the academe.

The increasing coverage of the index signified a higher level of interest and awareness on the importance of being measured based on the three pillars and a stronger commitment to improve LGU performance based on the resulting ranking.

NCC believes that LGUs are the building blocks of national competitiveness, the reason it encouraged the creation of RCCs. These RCCs are tasked to regularly assess local competitiveness indicators, formulate programs to improve competitiveness, and engage in investment promotion activities to attract investors and create new jobs.

By developing competitive LGUs across the nation, NCC is optimistic that this would contribute to the overall attractiveness of the country as a preferred place to do business.

Aside from the awarding, NCC also launched the 2016 CMCI website, which contains the detailed information on a particular LGU. The CMCI data may be used by businesses and government, as a tool for policy making, planning, governance, budget management, and investment promotion.
Stakeholders coming from the national government agencies, business chambers, development partners, diplomatic community, and the academe have joined this annual event.

Organizers of the summit and the competitiveness awards stand by the integrity of the index noting the data were voluntarily submitted by local government units themselves and were cross-checked with other government agencies and private institutions. There is no board of judges to avoid any politics in the selection process.

As a private sector initiative, the NCC hopes its efforts could help boost business performance in the Philippines. CT BicolMail