ILOILO City – This southern city continues to stand out as one of the Philippines’ top highly urbanized cities (HUCs) for 2024.
It has been recognized as the fifth Most Competitive HUC in the country and still the top city outside the National Capital Region (NCR).
“I am proud of the achievements of Iloilo City. This is a testament of our teamwork and our resilience. Everyone worked so hard. Thank you for your hard work for Iloilo City,” Mayor Jerry P. Treñas expressed.
The award was given during the Philippine Creative Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Congress by the Department of Trade and Industry – Competitiveness Bureau (DTI-CB) on August 23, 2024 at the Manila Hotel.
Showcasing its commitment to progress and excellence, Iloilo City achieved an improved overall score of 52.29 from 51.04 in 2023.
The rankings of cities and municipalities were based on the sum of their scores on the five pillars: Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, Infrastructure, Resiliency, and Innovation.
The city bested other HUCs in the country after showing a remarkable performance as number one in Government Efficiency.
It refers to the quality and reliability of government services and government support for effective and sustainable productive expansion. This factor looks at government as an institution that is generally not corrupt; able to protect and enforce contracts; apply moderate and reasonable taxation and is able to regulate proactively.
“We have been successful in turning the mindset of our officials and employees nga kinanglan mag-serbisyo gid, importante serbisyo,” Mayor Treñas said.
The city also made it to the top list in other competitiveness pillars such as rank 5 in Innovation and Resiliency; rank 7 in Economic Dynamism; and rank 9 in Infrastructure.
The city mayor was represented by Lea Lara, director of the city’s MICE Center, during the awarding ceremony.
MORE RECOGNITIONS
Apart from being one of the top cities in the country, the city has more reasons to celebrate this August in time for its 87th Charter Day celebration after receiving more accolades.
Iloilo City also received a commendation from Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) for fully complying with the electronic Business One-Stop Shop (eBOSS) system.
The eBOSS is a single online portal that allows clients to access all necessary services and information for business registration, including submission of applications, online payment, and electronic issuance of pertinent documents.
Complying with the online system is mandated under Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Law, and with ARTA-DTI-DILG-DICT JMC 2021-01.
“This means that we are now fully digital when it comes to business permitting. There is no need to go to the barangay to get a business permit, applicants can directly go to the City Hall or apply via an online system,” said Local Economic Development and Investment Promotion Office (LEDIPO) head Velma Jane Lao.
On the other hand, the city has also been named as the fastest growing IT-BPM Office Destination outside Metro Manila by the real estate services and investment firm CBRE.
“Iloilo will continue to grow because of the BPOs. Sige-sige dugang ang building kay kulang but there will be work for those qualified for BPOs,” the city mayor said.
Relative to this, Iloilo City along with Quezon City have been cited by The Philippine Star columnist Boo Chanco to “have shown LGUs how to keep the BPO industry happy.”
“Let their experience become the national template,” Chanco wrote./PN
