For 2nd straight year, Quezon City is Philippine’s richest LGU

MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City government, under Mayor Joy Belmonte, has retained the distinction as the country’s richest local government unit (LGU) with total assets of P451.007 billion in 2021, the Commission on Audit (COA)’s latest report showed.

COA’s 2021 Annual Financial Report on Local Government, uploaded on its website on Oct. 10, showed that the QC government was leading by a wide margin over other LGUs in terms of total assets despite a P1.3-billion decrease from P452.333 billion in 2020.

The COA explained that the total assets were computed based on the LGU’s current assets composed of cash, cash equivalent and receivables, and non-current assets, which included the LGU’s property, plant and equipment.

Records also showed that Quezon City’s total wealth in 2021 comprised non-current assets amounting to P403.402 billion and current assets of P47.605 billion.

The Makati City government, which last held the top spot in 2019, came in far second with total assets of P238.562 billion from P238.465 billion in 2020.

The city’s total assets in 2021 comprised P204.847 billion in non-current assets and P33.714 billion in current assets.

Though hailed as the richest province, Cebu only ranked third with total assets of P215.27 billion in 2021 (composed of P205.156 billion in non-current assets and P10.114 billion in current assets) from P213.005 billion the previous year.

Just like in 2020, only the local governments of Quezon City, Makati City and Cebu province breached the hundred billion-peso mark in terms of wealth.

COA’s 215-page report was culled from the audited financial statements submitted by 1,676 LGUs composed of 81 provinces, 146 cities and 1,449 municipalities, including the Bangsamoro government.

The audit body said the report covered 97.7 percent of the country’s 1,715 total LGUs as some did not comply with the submission of their financial statements for audit.

COA’s top 10 list of wealthiest cities in 2021 based on total assets – aside from Quezon City and Makati – were Manila (P65.253 billion), Pasig City (P51.176 billion), Taguig City (P36.117 billion), Cebu City (P33.343 billion), Mandaue City (P33.007 billion), Mandaluyong City (P31.440 billion), Davao City (P26.556 billion) and Caloocan City (P22.203 billion).

The top four cities retained their rankings from 2020, while Taguig City leapfrogged to fifth spot from seventh in the previous report.

Mandaluyong, which was not in the top 10 in 2020, jumped to 8th place, elbowing Davao City and Caloocan to one rank lower than their previous spots and booting out Zamboanga City from the list.

Meanwhile, the top 10 richest provinces were Cebu (P215.27 billion), Rizal (P30.638 billion), Batangas (P29.705 billion), Davao de Oro (P23.211 billion), Bukidnon (P19.455 billion), Negros Occidental (P18.025 billion), Ilocos Sur (P17.907 billion), Iloilo (P17.399 billion), Isabela (P16.419 billion) and Palawan (P16.109 billion).

The top 10 richest municipalities were Carmona, Cavite (P6.212 billion), Limay, Bataan (P4.795 billion), Silang, Cavite (P3.738 billion), Cainta, Rizal (P3.393 billion), Taytay, Rizal (P3.274 billion), Binangonan, Rizal (P3.141 billion), Caluya, Antique (P3.117 billion), Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur (P3.044 billion), Cabugao, Ilocos Sur (P2.967 billion) and Rodriguez, Rizal (P2.915 billion).