Cagayan de Oro is PH’s most competitive city – report

MANILA, Philippines – The city recently rocked by a bomb explosion that killed 8 people and injured dozens more has been recognized as the most competitive in the country.

In the 2012 Cities/Municipalities Competitiveness Report, the first ever released by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), Cagayan de Oro bested 122 cities in terms of competitiveness, while San Francisco in Agusan del Sur topped the list of 163 first-class municipalities.

The report, released on Tuesday, July 30, ranked the cities and municipalities based on 3 indicators: economic dynamism, government efficiency, and infrastructure.

The report used data gathered in 2012 – way before a bomb attack hit CDO. On July 27, an improvised explosive device went off at a popular restaurant in the city. The restaurant was filled with doctors who attended a national convention.

Following CDO in the competitiveness rankings were Iloilo City, San Fernando in Pampanga, Butuan City, and Bacolod City.

Completing the top 5 municipalities were Guagua in Pampanga, Carmona in Cavite, Daet in Camarines Norte, and General Trias in Cavite.

Topnotchers CDO and San Fernando are both in Mindanao. More than half of the top 50 cities and top 50 municipalities are in Luzon.

Preferred business locations

Guillermo Luz, private sector chair of the NCC, said the rankings serve as a guide for investors in choosing where to put up businesses.

These will also encourage local government units (LGUs) to pursue best practices so they can attract more investments, he added.

Luz said the presence of Mindanao LGUs in the top 50 of the lists indicates that government efforts to build peace in and harness the potential of Mindanao are the “right track.”

“Sometimes we always look for the usual suspects but there are small places for certain types of business which are actually doing far better than we think,” Luz said.

Top cities in each category

The economic dynamism indicator ranked cities and municipalities in terms of business registration, employment and performance of financial institutions, among others. For this indicator, the top 3 cities were Quezon City, Koronadal, and Marikina City. The top municipalities were Calasiao in Pangasinan; San Nicolas in Ilocos Norte, and Sta. Cruz in Laguna.

The government efficiency indicator had transparency and accountability, public finance, performance recognition, business responsiveness and basic government services as sub-indicators.

The top cities in this category were Iloilo City; Bacolod City; and Cagayan de Oro. The top municipalities were Kalinga, Pontevedra in Capiz, and Nueva Valencia in Guimaras.

Under infrastructure, the cities and municipalities were ranked based on road network, basic utilities and registered vehicles. The top cities were Naga, San Fernando in Pampanga and Cagayan de Oro, and the municipalities were Daet, Mexico and Virac. – Rappler.com