QC emerges as most competitive city

Quezon City has emerged as this year’s most competitive city, where economic dynamism, government efficiency and infrastructure are at its best, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said.

Quezon City ousted Manila, last year’s most competitive highly urbanized city, which was relegated to third spot in this year’s rankings.

Makati City, a two-time recipient of the award, came in as the country’s second best investment destination for 2016.

“They say change is coming. Well, change has come. What we see here is a big change in mindset that

will really propel the country to greatness. Pushing competitiveness is really important. However, we do not do it for the awards but to help the people in the community. It is important that we help everyone to prosper. We hope those who do not make it to the top this year will look up to those who have been awarded,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said at yesterday’s 4th Regional Competitiveness Summit Index Awards.

“To win the overall you have to be good in all areas, so you have to be good in infrastructure, government efficiency and economic dynamism. You don’t have to be number one in all but you have to be in the top three, like Quezon City. So it’s consistency in delivery of service, that’s the secret,” NCC co-chairman Guillermo Luz said.

Rizal was hailed as this year’s most competitive province, followed by Cavite and South Cotabato.

In terms of component cities, those considered as most competitive were Naga City in Camarines Sur, San Fernando City in Pampanga and Legazpi City in Albay.

This year’s Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index recorded the largest number of participants with 1,389 local government units, 144 of which are cities and 1,245 municipalities.

Luz said the number is equivalent to about 85 percent of total local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines.

The NCC said the increasing coverage of the index signifies a higher level of interest and awareness on the importance of being measured to improve LGU performance.

“By next year, the grand plan is to do 100 percent coverage. We’re 85 percent now. But the remaining 15 percent are the toughest ones so far. Many of these 15 percent are in ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), you have some in Catanduanes and in Abra. Normally, they are in the provinces that are a bit low on the socioeconomic scale, some of it is on physical distance, meaning they are isolated and we can’t get people there to collect data,” Luz said.

For the fifth edition of the report next year, Luz said the NCC plans on adding sustainability and resiliency components in the scorecard to make the rankings at par with that of other countries in ASEAN.