Bacolod, Iloilo top performers in cities competitiveness study
The cities of Bacolod and Iloilo performed well in the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project (PCCRP) 2009, according to the results published in the last quarter of 2010 by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center.
Bacolod and Iloilo cities were among the 29 participating cities from across the country in the PCCRP 2009. Of the 29, two were “Metropolitan Growth Centers,” 10 were “Growth Centers,” and 17 were “Emergent Cities.” Bacolod and Iloilo belonged to the second category.
The PCCRP is a biennial nationwide research project started by the AIM Policy Center in 1999. It measures the ability of the country’s cities to attract investments and residents by looking at indicators, both quantitative and qualitative, of six competitiveness drivers, namely, cost of doing business, dynamism of local economy, human resources and training, infrastructure, responsiveness of the local government unit to business needs, and quality of life.
Prof. Jigger Latoza, director of the University of San Agustin Center for Research and Publications, served as AIM’s research partner in Western Visayas. He also served as consultant for the participating cities in Western Visayas in the 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 rankings.
Latoza said Bacolod ranked first in terms of “responsiveness of the local government unit to business needs” and also did well in terms of “quality of life” and “human resources and training.”
Iloilo, meanwhile, ranked first in “human resources and training,” and also posted good scores in terms of “responsiveness of the local government unit” and in “dynamism of the local economy.”
“On the downside, however, Bacolod and Iloilo share two common areas for improvement,” Latoza added. “These are in the “cost of doing business” and “infrastructure” drivers, where both cities ranked low.”
Latoza pointed out that if one goes by the cities’ ranking per indicator under the six dimensions, Bacolod ranked first in the following : number of commercial and universal banks; availability of website; rental cost (commercial space); travel time to seaport; subscribed telephone lines; reliability of telephone service; awareness of mandated plans, codes, and local bodies; participation in investment road shows; and (low) average of monthly crime rate.
Iloilo City ranked first in the following indicators: solid waste management; assistance in product labeling; assistance in product packaging; number of firemen per 100,000 population; travel time to seaport (tied with Bacolod); reliability of telephone service (tied with Bacolod); perception of the importance of honesty of local government officials; number of commercial/universal banks (tied with Bacolod); number of historical sites; and number of utility vehicles for hire.
The PCCRP 2009 was started in the third quarter of 2009 but its completion had to be postponed till after the May 2010 elections. It was funded by the German Technical Cooperation and the United States Agency for International Development.*
