BAGUIO CITY—The Department of Trade and Industry, in partnership with the National Competitiveness Council, recognized the local government units in the Cordillera region that performed well in the 2016 NCC Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index in an awarding ceremony at Albergo Hotel here.
DTI Cordillera Regional Director Myrna Pablo, assisted by Philippine Chamber of Commerce Inc.–CAR Governor Johnny dela Cruz and Philippine Statistics Authority Regional Director Villafe Alibuyog, spearheaded the awarding of certificate of participation to all 56 LGUs that entered the 2016 CMCI.
Plaques of recognition were also awarded to the top three ranking LGUs in every category.
For the provincial level, Benguet bagged the most competitive LGU award, ranking 21st out of the 68th provinces nationwide that entered the CMCI. Kalinga (25th) and Ifugao (35th) were second and third, respectively.
For the 1st to 2nd class municipalities category, top in CAR is municipality of La Trinidad, Benguet, which ranked 14th out of 490 LGUs nationwide. It was followed by Tuba, Benguet at 118th and Bontoc, Mountain Province at 147th.
For 3rd to 6th class municipalities, Tublay in Benguet bagged the top plum after being ranked 20th out of 755 LGUs nationwide, followed by Buguias, Benguet (23rd) and Lamut, Ifugao (24th).
Baguio City was awarded plaque of recognition for ranking 14th out of the 34 highly urbanized cities that joined the ranking, the same with the city of Tabuk in Kalinga that ranked 76th among the 110 component cities in the 2016 CMCI.
Certificates were also awarded to the best performing LGUs in each of the CMCI pillars, namely infrastructure, economic dynamism and government efficiency.
Pablo stressed the importance of LGUs entering the Index, as it is a basis for businessmen and investors to place their trust in the localities.