National Competitiveness Council recognizes six Central Luzon LGUs

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO –The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) recognized six local government units in Central Luzon for high rankings in the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI).

Pura town in Tarlac placed first in overall competitiveness, first in economic dynamism, first in government efficiency, and first in infrastructure under the 3rd to 6th class municipalities category.

“CMCI is an annual ranking of Philippine cities and municipalities developed by NCC through the Regional Competitiveness Committees with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development. The NCC is co-chaired by our agency,”Department of Trade and Industry Regional Director Judith Angeles said.

Other winners include Zaragoza in Nueva Ecija (third in infrastructure and second most

improved, 3rd to 6th Class municipalities category); Baliwag in Bulacan (second in Infrastructure, 1st to 2nd class municipalities category); and Cabiao in Nueva Ecija (second in resiliency, 1st to 2nd class municipalities category).

For the component cities, Gapan ranked third in the resiliency pillar while Mabalacat ranked first in most improved.

“Under the CMCI evaluation, cities and municipalities are ranked on their competitiveness based on an overall competitiveness score. The overall competitiveness score is the sum of scores on four main pillars which are derived from several subindicators. The three main pillars are economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure and resiliency. Scores are determined by the values of the actual data, as well as the completeness of the submitted data,” Angeles added.

— Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu/ PIA-3