Danao shines in DTI ranking

CEBU, Philippines — Danao City in northern Cebu ranked first in the most improved for component cities in the country based on this year’s competitive index ranking of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), while Lapu-Lapu City ranked third in highly-urbanized cities.

Cebu City also remains the best placed local government unit in Cebu island at 13th place in the overall ranking after topping some indicators in the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) in the 2024 awards.

From 105th place in 2023, Danao City made a huge rank improvement this year and placed 34th for all the component cities in the country with a score of 40.8616, making it the most improved city among all component cities in the country.

Ozamiz in Misamis Occidental was second in the list, followed by San Carlos City in Pangasinan.

On the other hand, Lapu-Lapu City bagged the third spot in the most improved rankings for highly urbanized cities after reaching the 26th place from being 29th in 2023.

Taguig City and San Juan City in Metro Manila clinched the first and second spot, respectively, as the most improved for highly-urbanized cities.

The department’s Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index is an annual ranking of Philippine cities and municipalities developed by the National Competitiveness Council through the Regional Competitiveness Committees (RCCs) with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development.

The overall competitiveness of cities and municipalities are based on the sum of their scores on four pillars— economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure, resiliency, and innovation.

Danao City, as a component city, scored 4.78 in terms of economic dynamism. While in government efficiency, the city got 10.97 score. For infrastructure, Danao City got a 4.91 score. In terms of resiliency, it got a score of 12.08; and 8.10 in innovation.

Lapu-Lapu City, being a highly urbanized city, got a 3.89 score in economic dynamism and 9.57 in government efficiency. The city also got a score of 5.96 for infrastructure; 11.52 score for resiliency; and 7.01 in innovation.

TOP 20

Meanwhile, Cebu City is the only one from Cebu island that got into the top 20 ranking. The rankings had been classified from HUCs to different municipality classifications.

From a score of 41.73 in 2023, Cebu City remains the best placed highly urbanized city in Cebu Island and in the region with 41.86 to remain at 13th overall behind Quezon City.

Cebu City improved its standing in almost all indicators, except in economic dynamism and government efficiency.

From 17th, Cebu City now ranks 13th in infrastructure. Among the indicators in the said criteria, it is 7th in transportation vehicles and 8th in education and financial technology capacity.

Cebu City also improved in resiliency from 30th to 21st, and is no.1 in disaster risk reduction plan and local risk assessment, and second in sanitary system.

For innovation, it also improved from 12th to 10th among HUCs after it topped in ICT plan (E-BPLS softwares and online payment facilities), third in intellectual property registration, fifth in internet capacity, seventh in STEM graduates and 10th in start-up and innovation facilities.

In terms of economic dynamism, Cebu City is ranked 10th highlighted by its being fifth in active establishments in the locality and cost of living and sixth in employment generation and ninth in local economy size.

In government efficiency though, it dropped from 14th to 19th, but no.1 in compliance to national directives, ARTA citizens’ charter and getting business permits, eighth in capacity of health services and ninth in social protection and presence of investment promotion unit.

Mandaue City, on other hand, dropped from 14th in 2023 to 21st this year with 38.5154 points.

Mandaue ranked 23rd in economic dynamism, 22nd in government efficiency, 18th in infrastructure, 16th in resiliency and 22nd in innovation.

The provincial rankings, on the other hand, are based on population and income weighted average of the overall scores of cities and municipalities under a province.

Cebu Province has improved its rank in the list of provinces in the country, reaching 49th place in this year’s competitive index with a score of 31.4320.

In 2023, the province placed 52nd having a 30.4593 score. — (FREEMAN)