The cities of Quezon, Manila and Pasay bagged the overall most competitive highly urbanized cities at the 10th Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index Summit 2022 organized by the Department of Trade and Industry.
Ranked based on the CMCI scoring system, Quezon City placed first, followed by Manila and Pasay.
“CMCI constantly evolves to be a timely and relevant indicator of local competitiveness as it added the innovation pillar from the list of its convergent pillars, namely: economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure and resilience,” said Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual during the awarding ceremony on Oct. 20.
The DTI recognized the outstanding performance of local government units that endeavored and committed to pursue quality and excellence and worked hard to improve their competitiveness scores in this year’s summit.
Pascual underscored the importance of CMCI which addresses the lack of a standardized system for compiling local indicators nationwide, while allowing LGUs to assess their relative level of competitiveness and derive insights for their local policymaking and planning.
The agency said that through the insights that could be derived from the CMCI data analytics platform, the policymakers and LGU leaders could formulate concrete plans and programs to strengthen their competitiveness and promote local communities as viable investment destinations of choice for new and existing investors.
Pascual underlined the critical role of LGUs in nation-building and the promotion of nationwide competitiveness.
“LGUs play a vital role as we strive for continuous development in our nation’s competitiveness. You are our partner in ease of doing business. As chair of the Ease of Doing Business-Anti-Red Tape Advisory Council, we support the streamlining of government operations. Let us work together to digitize your data and digitalize your operations toward e-governance,” he said.
Pascual encouraged LGUs to continue to do better, be more innovative and carry on with more initiatives to contribute to the overall competitiveness of the country.