MANILA, Philippines — Quezon City remains to be the country’s most competitive local government unit (LGU) in the highly urbanized cities (HUC) category of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)’s Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index.
For the third time, Quezon City received the most competitive city recognition since it became a Hall of Fame awardee in 2020.
Quezon City also placed first among HUCs for being the most competitive in terms of innovation, infrastructure and resiliency. It placed second in economic dynamism, after Pasay City.
Quezon City also received a special citation for being the city with most intellectual property filings and registrations at 6,366, according to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.
It was followed by the city of Manila with 5,242 IP filers while Makati came in third with 3,929.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte personally received the awards during the DTI’s Philippine Creative Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Congress at the Manila Hotel last week.
“These awards are a testament to the commitment and dedication of the city government in crafting programs and policies for all QCitizens, including startup businesses,” Belmonte said in a statement.
“We offer the recognition to all our QCitizens who continue to support and trust the city government, and who pay their taxes and dues religiously. We assure them that every centavo they pay will be properly accounted for, and will be used to finance meaningful projects for their benefit and the growth of our city,” she added.
Awarded by the DTI, the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index recognizes LGUs in five key pillars: economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure, resiliency and innovation.
Following Quezon City in the HUC category were Pasay, Manila, Iloilo, Muntinlupa, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Makati, Pasig and Valenzuela.
Other top LGUs include Rizal among provinces, Naga in Camarines Sur among component cities, Cainta in Rizal among first and second class municipalities, Sulop in Davao del Sur among third and fourth class municipalities and Tubod in Surigao del Norte among fifth and sixth class municipalities. — Catherine Talavera