By Cris Evert Lato
Cebu Daily News First Posted 07:30:00 07/05/2008 Filed Under: Government
Lapu-Lapu City is among the country's top 25 “competitive” cities in the country.
This is according to the results of the Asian Institute of Management's 2007 Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project (PCCRP) presented by Dr. Federico Macaranas of the AIM Policy Center at the Intercontinental Manila Hotel yesterday.
Only Lapu-Lapu made it in the top 25 cities although Cebu City and Mandaue City were among those studied in the competitive survey conducted across the country.
The city ranked high in terms of infrastructure and cost of doing business mainly due to its two export processing zones.
“Competitiveness is how a nation manages the totality of its resources and competencies to increase the prosperity of its people,” according to the World Competitiveness yearbook, IMD 2008 used in the survey.
This was the second time in two months that Lapu-Lapu was recognized as one of the country's top cities by a national survey.
Last May, Lapu-Lapu ranked second among the cities in the country where entrepreneurs could easily start a business. The survey, dubbed “Doing Business in the Philippines,” was conducted by International Finance Corp., a member of the World Bank.
Meanwhile, the recent PCCRP is a flagship research undertaking of the AIM Policy Center to identify the best cities in the Philippines in which to live, work and operate a business.
For its 2007 Round, the survey covered 90 cities. They were rated on the basis of six criteria or “competitiveness drivers.” These were dynamism of local economy, cost of doing business, infrastructure, human resources and training, responsiveness of local government units (LGUs) to business needs and quality of life.
The cities were classified into metro, mid-sized and small. The top 25 cities were chosen based on which cities topped in each classification. Among the 25 cities, four are from the Visayas –Lapu-Lapu (metro) and Bayawan in Negros Oriental, Tagbiliran in Bohol and Calbayog in Samar – all in the small-sized categories.
Four top cities are from the National Capital Region, 11 in Luzon and six in Mindanao.
The result was posted on the AIM's website (www.policy.aim.edu). While the top cities have been identified, these are listed down in alphabetical order and not based on their ranking in the survey.
Top performing for metro cities category Davao, Lapu-Lapu, Makati, Manila, Marikina and Quezon cities.
For mid-sized cities, the top-performing cities were Cabanatuan, General Santos, Lucena, Olongapo, San Pablo, Tagum and Tarlac.
In the small-sized cities, Bayawan, Calapan, Calbayog, Dagupan, Dipolog, Laoag, San Fernando (La Union), Malaybalay, Naga (Camarines Sur), Surigao, Tagbilaran and Tuguegarao emerged in the top.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza said he was “happy” of the new recognition, saying it was vindication from allegations of corruption raised by his critics against him.
“But the mayor does not claim this to be the success of the city government alone but the entire people of Lapu-Lapu,” said Deputy City Attorney Michael Dignos.
“This new award will boost the mayor's resolve to continue with the development projects for the city.”
But Jun Monzon, secretary general of Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI), expressed doubts on the results of the AIM survey. The MICCI has been a staunch critic of Radaza.
“What infrastructure are we talking about? There are no new infrastructure projects initiated by the local government for the past six to seven years. Most of the projects are nationally funded,” Monzon said.
He said it is best for the city government to first present real results before bragging about any study.
Monzon was referring to another AIM study conducted by the International Finance Corp. and World Bank where Lapu-Lapu also ranked second in the cost of doing business.
Cebu City Administrator Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez was disappointed.
Fernandez said he will examine the recent AIM survey the moment he gets a copy and see where Cebu City may have failed to perform well.
“I don't know how they (AIM) do it but I will definitely read the study. But as far as I can remember I have not been interviewed by any representatives from AIM,” he told last night.
While Cebu City's non-inclusion in the top 20 most competitive metropolitan cities may be a negative point, Fernandez stressed that Cebu City remains a primary investment haven in the south.
“I am not familiar with how the AIM study was conducted but in terms of dynamism and investor-friendliness I believe Cebu City is good. Most call centers come to Cebu City,” he said.
Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Eric Ng Mendoza said he was more concerned with looking at reality than any surveys.
“I don't pay attention to surveys. I pay attention to reality. Mandaue is busier today because more stores such as Save More and Park Mall just opened. A city would need stores to be livable,” Mendoza said.
He pointed out that from January to June this year, Mandaue received more than 9,000 applications for business permits in Mandaue, or an increase of over 1,000 from the 8,000 received last year.
The rise in the applications showed that Mandaue's economy is growing, he added.
Dr. Macaranas said in his presentation of the survey result that the PCCRP was conducted every two years starting 1999 to provide a broad perspective of the general well-being of a city, to serve as benchmark for both local government units and investors and to be an avenue for city government to learn from the best practices of other cities.
The PCCRP 2007 is the fifth round covering 90 cities classified as metropolitan (20), mid-sized (25) and small-sized (45). Each city has an average of 40 respondents.
Metropolitan cities are in Metro Manila, Metro Davao and Metro Cebu, which includes the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
Mid-sized cities have a population of more than 200,000 and less than 20,000 for small-sized cities.
In specific criteria, Lapu-Lapu scored high in cost of doing business and infrastructure. The city ranked fourth in both criteria.
The city's major infrastructure were Mactan Economic Processing Zones 1 and 2 as well as the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
AIM said that while doing the study, it noticed that neither LGUs nor national government agencies could provide comprehensive and updated statistics for all cities in the country.
In this light, the study noted that national government needs to support data management so that cities will have accurate and up-to-date statistics.
LGUs, on the other hand, need to have constant communication with local business groups and chambers of commerce to identify the short and long-term needs of the local business sector. with a report from Reporter Dale Israel
