Puerto Princesa has topped the annual competitiveness ranking among cities and municipalities and has been recognized as the most improved highly urbanized city in the country.
The ranking was done under the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) 2020, 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.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Palawan provincial director Hazel Salvador said that the ranking given by CMCI was recognizing the efforts of the local government unit (LGU) to serve its constituents in terms of the four pillars classified as economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure, and resiliency.
“Ang CMCI kasi ay isang way to show how competitive ang isang city or municipality in terms of the four pillars of government service which are economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure and resiliency,” she said.
“Iyong rank nila are based on the total scores na makuha nila sa four pilars. Kung mataas rank mo it means mataas ang points mo, which means competitive ka dun sa four pillars,” she added.
The Competitiveness and Innovation Group (CIG) of DTI has been directed to develop a competitiveness agenda guided by global competitiveness indices.
It also mandates the strengthening of Regional Competitiveness Committees and to use the CMCI as tool to improve competitiveness on the local level.
The CMCI local competitiveness framework adopted the framework developed by Michael Porter, which is also being used in a number of global surveys on competitiveness, as said on its website.
“Bale ang most improved ay ‘yong mga nag-improve pagdating sa ranking ng competitive cities and municipalities. Example, kung last year pang 300th place sila, this year tumaas naging 95th place. Ang top 1 ay yung pinakamalaking improvement sa ranking, na nakuha ng PPC among HUC,” Salvador further explained.
The competitiveness ranking categories are classified into selected top 10 provinces; highly urbanized cities; component cities; 1st to 2nd class municipalities; and 10 3rd to 6th class municipalities.
It also recognized the most improved rankings on the stated categories.
