BAGUIO City ranks 19th place in DTI’s Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index 2020

Baguio City, Philippines – Among 33 highly-urbanized cities in the country, the City of Baguio ranked 19th in the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index (CMCI) for the year 2020, showing that the city is still in good competitive standing.

Rankings of cities and municipalities are based on the sum of their scores on 4 Pillars; Economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure, and resiliency.

DTI records show the city ranked 11th in economic dynamism scoring 6.7338, 26th in government efficiency having a score of 9.3391, 18th in Infrastructure with a score of 5.8129 and 26th in Resiliency with a score of 16.6571.

What could be done for better competitiveness?

According to PIO Baguio, City Planning and Development Office Head Archt. Donna Tabangin during the management committee meeting on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, improvement on local economy size and growth, increase in employment and productivity, and presence of business and professional organizations should be enhanced to increase level of economic dynamism.

For government efficiency, Tabangin said areas needing improvement are compliance to national directives, capacity to generate local resource, capacity of health services, and compliance to business permits and licensing system standards. As for infrastructure, the city has to improve on road network, distance to ports, transportation vehicles, and education and accommodation capacity. And for resiliency, Baguio city’s land use plan, utilities and its employed population must be given special attention.

Moreover, Tabangin informed that they are now conducting measures in order to level up the ranking of the city this 2021.

Plans to level up ranking

The analysis of 2020 data, study of DTI’s CMCI metrics, benchmarking and comparative analysis of the other 32 HUCs, collection and analysis of data from different city government offices for comparison to 2020 data shall be used as basis for the City to level up ranking this year.

Additionally, The City will conduct strategic planning as well as urge offices to join the Annual Investment Plan cycle by aligning their respective projects, plan, and activities towards the city’s development framework and ISA strategy.

“This will show that the city has a roadmap and ensures that its efforts are encapsulated in data that is used in the DTI CMCI metrics,” the city planning and development officer said.

Highly urbanized cities in the Philippines include Manila, Angeles, Tacloban, Quezon, Olongapo, Caloocan, Las Piñas, Zamboanga, Makati, Lucena, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Cagayan de Oro, Marikina, Puerto Princesa, Iligan, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Davao, Parañaque, Iloilo, Pasay, Bacolod, Pasig, Gen. Santos, San Juan, Taguig, Cebu, Valenzuela, Mandaue, Lapu-lapu and Butuan City.

For 2020, Manila ranked number 1 in the CMCI scoring 65.9782 over a 100.