Iloilo City tops resiliency competitiveness ranking

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

Iloilo City bested all the big cities in the country in terms of resiliency in the Highly Urbanized City (HUC) category of the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) Awards 2019.

The metro emerged on top in the resiliency pillar for competitiveness, beating Cagayan de Oro and Davao.

In other pillars, Iloilo City bagged fifth place in government efficiency and 15th place in economic dynamism.

The metropolis also ranked 5th in the most improved HUC in the country.

Overall, the city’s ranking improved from 11th place to ninth spot this year.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) recognized the most competitive local government units (LGUs) in the country at the 7th Regional Competitiveness Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on October 24, 2019.

The city ranked ninth in the overall rankings, two steps higher from 11th place last year.

Mayor Jerry Treñas said the recognition is a testament that departments in the city government are now working efficiently.

He emphasized that the award should be a challenge for the city to improve its services and do better in the ranking next year.

“Number one kita sa resilience. We are very happy kay amo na aton ranking, over-all number nine kita. It is only a testament nga nagaulubra na tanan nga departamento sa siyudad but it is also a challenge to do better next year, kinahanglan tuod-tuodan ta na ni,” he said in an interview on Thursday.

Last week, Iloilo City was the first local government in the country to be tapped by the National Resilience Council (NRC) to become a model of resilience. The move was formalized through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the NRC, the city government, and the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV).

As part of its partnership, the city government received 20 sets of P-alert and rain gauges from the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) in Taiwan where it will be installed in the 20 identified locations in the city.

The signing of the MOU will pave the way for the improvement of resilience outcomes including the fulfillment of the local government unit resilience score card; conduct of community level risk assessment; and establishment of public private partnership (PPP) among target LGUs and local private sectors.