By VEN C. ARIGO

Three Bohol towns have made it to the top 40 competitive municipalities in the country based on an index designed to dare Philippine local government units (LGUs) to perform in the advent of the ASEAN integration. The 2014 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) ranked Talibon, Tubigon and Ubay the 24th, 26th and 39th competitive unicipal LGUs all over the nation. Gov. Edgar Chatto cited the achievements of the LGUs, including Tagbilaran City which excelled notably in one major category. The same annual result released by the National Competitiveness Council Philippines (NCC) confirmed an earlier report placing Tagbilaran City at top 6th among the 10 “most efficient” city LGUs across the archipelago. Bohol's only city landed number 28---and one of only two in Central Visayas among the first 30 cities---nationwide in competitiveness, which is the overall standing summing up the scores in three major categories. The CMCI measured the competitiveness of the LGUs using 28 indicators under the pillar categories of economic dynamism, government efficiency and infrastructure.

Talibon, Tubigon and Ubay swept the highest three spots in competitiveness in Central Visayas at numbers 1, 2 and 3, respectively. In fact, they are the only Region 7 municipalities to have entered the list of the top 40 competitive town LGUs in the country. Daan Bantayan town in Cebu is the only nearest at number 48. Among cities, however, only Cebu City from Central Visayas earned a magic 10 spot---at number 7---in competitiveness nationwide. The index has been developed by the NCC through the Regional Competitiveness Councils (RCCs) with support from the United States Assistance for International Development (USAID) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), among others. One rationale of the CMCI is the development of competitive advantage and achievement of inclusive growth in the country thru full participation of all cities and municipalities in improving ease and cost of doing business, governance and business environment. The index has been designed to encourage local governments to regularly track data and, eventually, benchmark performance against other LGUs of the ASEAN. It has also underlined the roles of government agencies at various levels, private sectors and development planners in contributing to inclusive growth in the country as the ASEAN Economic Community is to take shape in 2015.

CATEGORY PERFORMANCE

By categories, Talibon was ranked, nationwide, number 70 in economic dynamism, 39 in government efficiency, and 40 in infrastructure; Tubigon, 61, 47, 31; and Ubay, 38, 66, 103. In cities, Tagbilaran placed 62nd in infrastructure, 45th in economic dynamism, and 6th in government efficiency. Government efficiency sums up the transparency and economic scores in Local Government Performance Management System (LGPMS), ratio of LGU collected tax to total LGU revenue, DILG-recognized awards, business registration efficiency, presence of investment promotions unit, presence of local disaster risk reduction management council (DRRMC) plan, security, capacity of health service, and capacity of schools. At number 6, Tagbilaran City joined the top 10 cities in government efficiency, namely, by ranking, Naga City, Iloilo, Angeles, Makati, Cagayan de Oro, San Fernando, La Carlota, Baguio and Laoag. Only Iloilo, Tagbilaran and La Carlota (Negros Occidental) are in the Visayas. Overall, the country's 10 most competitive municipalities are Daet in Camarines Norte; General Trias, Cavite; Kalibo, Aklan; Carmona, Cavite; Nabunturan, Compostela Valley; Lubao, Pampanga; Isulan, Sultan Kudarat; Polomolk, South Cotabato; Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon; and Taytay, Rizal.

Among cities, the most competitive are Makati, Cagayan de Oro, Naga, Davao, Marikina, Iloilo, Cebu, Manila, Valenzuela and Parañaque. Only Cebu City is in Region 7. Among Central Visayas cities, only Cebu also landed to the top 10 in two of the three pillar categories--- economic dynamism (10th) and infrastructure (5th). Parañaque ranked first in economic dynamism and Davao in infrastructure. The 2014 MCCI has been actually so far the second annual result since the pilot run of the index in 2013. City and town data used in the national MCCI were voluntarily submitted by the competitive councils in the regions. This year's index involved 136 cities and 399 municipalities from 122 cities and 163 municipalities last year, and the NCC has eyed to double to 1,000 the number of LGUs covered in the 2015 edition. The towns of Taytay in Palawan, Mogpog in Marinduque and Quezon in Palawan finished lowest in overall competitiveness at 399th, 398th and 397th, respectively. In cities, Biñan in Laguna ranked last, 136th, and of the bottom six, four are Central Visayas cities, namely, Guihulngan (135th), Bais (134th), Dumaguete (132nd) and Canlaon (131st), all in Negros Oriental.

After the first MCCI last year, significant progress has been made and LGUs now get interested to be gauged as competitiveness does attract investors and development supporters, said Guillermo Luz, NCC private sector co-chair. Chatto said the index does motivate all to work together in making cities and municipalities affordable, accessible, socially acceptable, environment friendly, economically viable and climate resilient. Tubigon, a major Bohol port town like Ubay, raced well in LGU competitiveness despite its being one of the hardest-hit towns still recovering from the unforgiving earthquake.