INFRA, ECON DYNAMISM: What LGUs must do to become competitive

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Western Visayas said local government units (LGUs) must improve their competitiveness ranking particularly on the pillars of infrastructure and economic dynamism.

DTI-6 Regional Director Rebecca Rascon emphasized this point during the awarding ceremony for competitive LGUs in the region on Monday.

According to Rascon, the region scored low in infrastructure and economic dynamism based on the competitiveness ranking for 2019.

“Manubo kita sa infrastructure kay ang counting is when you spend internal funds sa infra, indi ka magsalig sa national government,” she said.

Rascon said the region, particularly third to sixth class municipalities, need support systems and facilities to improve their ranking in economic dynamism.

“Medyo manubo kita sa economic dynamism also because ginalantaw nila ang presence of support systems like presence sang bangko, mga educational facilities, government hospitals, hospital facilities so we need to improve,” she stressed,

Economic dynamism is associated with activities that create stable expansion of business and industries and higher employment. This is the concrete representation of productivity as it matches the output of the local economy with local resources.

The region can also boost the presence of banks, educational facilities, and government hospital to level up its economic dynamism while the pillar for infrastructure refers to the physical building blocks that connect, expand, and sustain a locality and its surroundings to enable the provision of goods and services.

On the other hand, Rascon said the region achieved high scores on the pillar of resilience and government efficiency.

Government efficiency refers to the quality and reliability of government services and government support for effective and sustainable productive expansion.

Resiliency is the ability of the people, households, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to and recover from shocks and stresses and manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth.

“Mataas kita resiliency since Iloilo City recently became national winner and mataas man kita sa good governance,” Rascon aid.

In October, Iloilo City won first place resilience in highly urbanized city category of the cities and municipalities competitiveness index (CMCI) Awards 2019.

Rascon said that they are seeing the potential of Malay in Aklan in the economic dynamism pillar.

“Sa economic dynamism because of Boracay, and infrastructure, mataas na siya points lang ang kinataas sang national winner sa iya,” she said.

DTI 6 recognized Aklan as the most competitive province while Iloilo City is the most improved highly urbanized city (HUC) in the region.

Amond the component cities, Silay City in Negros Occidental was cited as most improved while the towns of Belison  and Calinog were recognized as most improved third to sixth class municipalities and first to second class municipalities, respectively.

Iloilo City, Cadiz City, Tigbauan, and Ivisan scored the highest in resiliency.

For government efficiency, Iloilo City, Alimodian, Malay and Kabankalan City stood out in the region and for infrastructure pillar the towns of Zarraga, Malay, and Kabankalan City and Iloilo City scored the highest.

Calinog, Roxas City, Bacolod City, and Guimbal achieved the highest rating in economic dynamism.