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By Rhick Lars Vladimer Albay
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ILOILO City – After consistently being a top-performer in the National Competitiveness Council’s (NCC) “search for the most competitive cities in the Philippines,” Iloilo City saw a significant fall in the rankings for the 2017 edition of the survey.
From claiming the No. 3 spot in government efficiency in 2016 – among all highly urbanized cities (HUCs) in the country – Iloilo City has dropped to No. 32 in 2017.
Meanwhile, in the overall rankings for HUCs, the city plummeted from No. 8 in the previous year, to No. 32 now. The most noteworthy fall for Iloilo City was in the national competitive rankings among all cities in the Philippines, from No. 16 in 2016 to more than a hundred rungs down at No. 118 in 2017.
NCC is a non-profit entity composed of various state agencies and public organizations promoting good governance, peace and economic stability in line with the Philippine Development Plan.
Composing the NCC are representatives from the Trade, Finance, Energy, Tourism and Education departments and from the National Economic Development Authority.
The cities and municipalities are ranked based on an overall competitiveness score composed of economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure, and resiliency, the NCC said.
For the second successive year, Quezon City has topped the NCC annual Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index.
In terms of infrastructure, Quezon City also made it to the top spot and ranked second in other pillars of economic dynamism, government efficiency, and resiliency.
The Philippines’ capital Manila placed second, followed by President Rodrigo Duterte’s “hometown” Davao City dislodging Makati City in the third spot.
‘NEW SILICON VALLEY’
Meanwhile, after claiming the 90th spot in 2016, Iloilo City also recently lost its position in the Tholons Top 100 world “super cities” for outsourcing.
According to the Tholons Services Globalization Index (TSGI) 2017 released at the end of June, Iloilo exited the international rankings for business process outsourcing (BPO) destinations, as other Philippine hubs also slid down the ranks.
The recent developments have prompted Iloilo City mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog to urge the private sector to invest more in the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industry.
He cited the city’s readiness to accommodate IT-BPM firms, particularly in terms of manpower, infrastructures, and policies – while touting Iloilo City as the “next Silicon Valley.”
“All major telecommunication companies (telcos) are located in Iloilo City. There are 21,000 seats for fulltime employees working for 50 BPO companies in the city. We have the (Iloilo Federation for Information Technology) IFIT that assists companies especially those in the IT industry,” he said.
Jesraf Palmares, IFIT president, affirmed that Iloilo is indeed an ideal destination for IT-BPM firms.
Palmares noted the burgeoning growth of Iloilo City was acknowledged with a citation in the10 “Next Wave Cities” report of the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology Office, Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines, and Leechiu Property Consultants.
In 2016, Iloilo City was lauded as one of the five cities considered as “centers of excellence” for IT-BPM operations in the Philippines, alongside Manila, Davao, Cebu and Bacolod./PN
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