This photo taken on January 29, 2019 shows a general view of the skyline of the financial district of Makati in Manila. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines—Quezon City, Makati City and Taguig City were the top revenue earners in Metro Manila in the first full year following the COVID-19 pandemic, posting double-digit Annual Revenue Income (ARI) growth that bodes well for the country’s two richest cities.
According to data from the Department of Finance Bureau of Local Government Finance (DOF-BLGF), Quezon City topped the 17 local government units (LGUs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) with 27.41 billion pesos in ARI in 2023, followed by Makati (19.36B), Taguig (13.54B), Pasig (13.13B), and Manila (12.43B).
The other 11 cities in Metro Manila all earned nine-figure revenues. Parañaque came in sixth at 7.9 billion pesos, Pasay (7.35B) placed seventh, Mandaluyong (5.76B) placed eighth, Muntinlupa placed ninth (4.63B), and Caloocan (4.09B) placed 10th.
Valenzuela City, on the other hand, placed 11th with 3.98 billion pesos in income, followed by Las Piñas (2.52B) at 12th, San Juan (2.05B) at 13th, Marikina (1.58B) at 14th, Malabon (1.23B) at 15th, and Navotas (1.0B) at 16th.
Pateros, the lone municipality in Metro Manila, placed 17th and earned 0.2 billion pesos in 2023.
While Pateros placed last in total annual revenue in 2023, it bested all NCR LGUS in terms of year-on-year growth with a 65 percent surge in revenue growth
It was followed by Quezon City (30 percent), Makati (26 percent), Pasay (23 percent), and Mandaluyong (20 percent).
Also posting double-digit growth in ARI between 2022 and 2023 were the cities of Paranaque (17 percent), Las Piñas (16 percent), Pasig (14 percent), Valenzuela (14 percent), Muntinlupa (13 percent), Taguig (11 percent), and Navotas (10 percent).
The five slowest performers in terms of year-on-year growth were Manila (9 percent), SanJuan (9 percent), Malabon (9 percent), and Caloocan (8 percent). Marikina posted the lowest growth figures at 7 percent.
In terms of ARI to debt ratio, seven LGUs recorded figures greater than the NCR average of 0.19. Marikina had the highest ARI to debt ratio at 2.28, followed by Manila at 1.07. The other five cities with above-average ARI to debt ratios were Navotas (.44), Valenzuela (.43), Malabon (.40), Caloocan (.36), and Mandaluyong (.29).
A total of six LGUs are debt-free: Las Piñas, Makati, Parañaque, Pasig, Pateros, and Quezon City.