Rizal named most competitive province in the country

The province of Rizal emerged as the most competitive province in the country, based on an index that gauged a local government in terms of economic dynamism, efficiency and infrastructure.

According to the 2016 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) released by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) on Thursday, Infanta, Quezon was declared the most competitive overall under the Class 3 to 6 Municipalities category; Cainta, Rizal, among the Class 1-2 municipalities; City of Naga, Camarines Sur, under the Component Cities category; and Quezon City under the Highly Urbanized Cities category.

A new category was introduced this year to highlight the big jump made by cities and municipalities from last year’s rankings. The most improved municipalities were Barugo, Leyte (Class 3 to 6) and Pagbilao, Quezon (Class 1 to 2), while the most improved cities were Ormoc, Leyte (among component cities) and Taguig (among highly urbanized cities).

“This year, we included the most improved LGUs, which jumped by 300 or so spots in one year. It shows that with effort and dedication, they will become a competitive LGU,” NCC co-chair for the private sector Guillermo Luz said on the sidelines of the 4th Regional Competitiveness Summit on Thursday.

He stressed the importance of local competitiveness in driving national growth. “If we don’t build strong local government units (LGUs), we cannot build a sustainable, competitive country. We want to honor the best efforts of the LGUs to become more competitive.”

He said some of the indicators used to measure the competitiveness of LGUs were already aligned with global indices. However, more adjustments would be made to accurately reflect the factors used for measurement within the Asean region, he said. This way, Philippine cities would be able to compare themselves to their counterparts in neighboring countries, he said.

He said 85 percent of LGUs participated in the index this year.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez cited the importance of boosting the competitiveness of LGUs in order to provide a more enabling business environment for all, specifically micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs).

The CMCI is now on its fourth year. This year saw the largest participation with 1,389 LGUs, of which 144 are cities while the remaining 1,245 are municipalities.

When the CMCI was launched in 2013, there were only 285 LGUs that participated, equivalent to about 27 percent of the total LGUs in the country. This 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.