NOTE: THIS PRESS RELEASE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
Tagbilaran City retains its spot of being the Most Competitive Component City in the entire Visayasbased on the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) 2020 Rankings released during the 8th Regional Competitiveness Virtual Summit on December 16.And out of the 112 component cities in the country, Tagbilaran City was ranked 18th which is eight notches higher from last year’s 26th ranking.CMCI is an annual ranking of Philippine cities and municipalities developed by the Department of Trade and Industry and National Competitiveness Council with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development.
Tagbilaran City was included in the Top 20 of the Component Cities in the Philippines. Antipolo took the 1st spot, followed by Calamba in the 2nd place, and Cavite City in the 3rd spot. Local government units in the country were ranked on four convergent pillars namely Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, Infrastructure, and Resilience
.The ranking of Tagbilaran City in the four pillars, Government Efficiency, Economic Dynamism, Resiliency, and Infrastructure, also went several notches higher. For Economic Dynamism, Tagbilaran City was ranked 34th in 2019, but this year it went up to rank 18th. Infrastructure was rank 17th in 2019 and shifted to rank 12th this 2020. Resilience was ranked at 35th and then went up to 27th this 2020. While Government Efficiency was ranked 35th in 2019, it went up to 30th rank this 2020.
City Mayor John Geesnell “BABA” Yap thanked all the department heads for their hard work and dedication, “This achievement is the result of the collective efforts of the City Government. The sound fiscal management of the City has also been a game-changer for Tagbilaran City. The local executive thanked the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) for the award and said that this recognition is a testament of the focus and commitment of the City Government to deliver relevant public service”, Yap said.
USAID SURGE’s project through its coordinator, Dr. Linda Paredes helped in organizing the Data Capture and Monitoring Team of Tagbilaran City. This composite team is responsible inresearch, monitoring, and data-gathering. The team were tasked to collect information for the indicators under the four pillars.Jeanette Busano of the City Planning and Development Office served as the over-all coordinator of the data-gathering and monitoring, in close coordination with Jude Guieb of the Department of Trade and Industry.
The Economic Dynamism data were provided by Gilbert Trajano from the City Treasurer’s Office and BebenInting from the Local Investment Office, as assisted by Hubert Inas from the City Accounting, Maximo Gida from the City Budget, and Shayne Beniga from the Human Resources Department, the Government Efficiency Pillar data were furnished by Glenda Maniwang from the City Economic Enterprise, as assisted by Fe Almine from the City Assessor, Mario Lloyd Gutierrez from the SangguniangPanlungsod, and Junicel Mancha from the City DepEd, the Infrastructure Pillar were handled by City Engineer Teodoro Estoque, as assisted by Asuncion Epe and Engr. Gina Inting from the City Engineering, and Hazel Dos Pueblos from the City Tourism. Lastly, the Resiliency Pillar were under AirahBalatayo from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
The National Competitiveness Council was organized through Executive Order No. 44 which aims to promote a more competitive Philippines and instill a culture of excellence, through public-private sector collaboration as means to reduce poverty through inclusive growth.
Cities and municipalities are ranked on their competitiveness based on an overall competitiveness score. Scores are determined by the values of the actual data, as well as the completeness of the submitted data submitted by local government units.