Davao dislodges Makati in most competitive list

Davao City has bumped off Makati City from the top three spots among the country’s most competitive highly urbanized cities, according to the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s home turf placed third behind Quezon City, also the 2016 topnotcher, and Manila in the annual rankings developed by the National Competitiveness Committee (NCC) with technical assistance from the United States Agency for International Development.

In announcing its 2017 selections on Wednesday, the NCC said Davao fared better than perennial top-three city Makati based on the overall competitiveness scores.

The index is the sum of the scores in economic dynamism, government efficiency and infrastructure.

Makati placed second and Manila third in 2016, with Davao City — the model the firebrand President would like the whole country to follow — in fifth place.

Because the NCC list did not name the cities outside the top three spots this year, Makati’s position could not be ascertained.

Antipolo City topped the competitiveness index for component cities, followed by Naga City and Tagum City in Davao del Norte.

Three Rizal towns occupied the top three among the most competitive first and second class municipalities, with Cainta placing first followed by Taytay and Angono.

Among third to sixth class municipalities, Aurora province’s capital Baler placed first with Mambajao in Camiguin and Tayug in Pangasinan taking the next two places.

Rizal is the overall most competitive province in the 2017 index, followed by South Cotabato and Cavite in that order.

Tacloban City—which in late 2013 was severely hit by Supertyphoon “Yolanda”—was adjudged the most improved local government unit among highly urbanized cities. Tacloban shared the spot with Zamboanga City. —Roy Stephen C. Canivel