Iloilo City is most competitive highly urbanized city outside NCR
ILOILO City–This metropolis located in the western part of the Visayan region continues to emerge as a beacon of competitiveness and urbanization in the country.
Iloilo City emerged as the country’s most competitive highly urbanized city outside of t he National Capital Region (NCR) and the fourth overall based on the 2023 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI).
The city also won second place in Government Efficiency in the highly urbanized city category, according to the competitiveness index developed by the National Competitiveness Council.
Likewise, the city government ranked fifth as the most improved ranking in the highly urbanized city in 2023, increasing its place by three notches from seventh place in 2022 to fourth place last year.
Iloilo City also ranked Top 4 Most Improved HUC for 2023 and the same spot in Government Dynamism. It also placed second in Government Efficiency; fifth in Resiliency; and fourth in Innovation
Quezon City secured the top spot for the HUC Category followed by Pa say City (second) and City of Manila (third).
Calaca, Batangas led the Component City Category followed by Catbalogan, Samar (second); Tabaco, Albay (third), and City of Oroquita, Misamis Occidental (fourth).
Mayor Jerry Treñas considered such recognition for the city as a “sense of pride” of every Ilonggo.
“Our big accomplishment is that we were able to cultivate a sense of pride among the Ilonggos... it is not easy to have the sense of pride nga ang mga residents naton may mabatyag gid nga bugal para sa aton nga syudad. We can get all the awards, but if it does not translate into a sense of pride sa mga Ilonggo, daw kulang,” the mayor was quoted as saying.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) recognizes annually the most competitive local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines.
Apart from ranking second in government efficiency, Iloilo City also ranked fifth in resiliency; and fourth both in innovation and economic dynamism.
LGUs are ranked in each of the four convergent pillars of CMCI namely Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, Infrastructure, and Resiliency.
The fourth pillar measures the capability of an LGU to sustain competitiveness. Resiliency at the context of the local level is defined as the ability of the people, households, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth.
CMCI is an annual ranking of Philippine cities and