ILOILO City – Iloilo and Negros Occidental were still among the 10 richest provinces in the country, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).
COA’s Annual Financial Report (AFR) on Local Government Unit (LGUs) 2019 listed Iloilo as having assets reaching P13.034 billion, making it No. 10 in the list.
Negros Occidental, on the other hand, had assets valued at P15.901 billion, making it No. 7 in the list.
Although Iloilo dropped to the 10th spot, its assets increased by about P2 billion, according to COA, from 2018’s P11.442 billion.
Iloilo is a first-class province made up of 43 LGUs having a total of 1,721 barangays.
In the 2015 census, Iloilo had a population of 1,936,423.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental was No. 6 in 2018 with assets reaching P14.446 billion.
COA said the 2019 AFR summarized the financial statements of 1,653 LGUs consisting of 79 provinces, 144 cities and 1,430 municipalities.
Cebu held the top spot as the country’s richest province with P203.9 billion in total assets.
Batangas was in second place with P20.793 billion; Rizal, third with P20.275 billion; Davao de Oro, fourth with P20.1 billion; and Bukidnon, fifth with P18.294 billion.
Also in the list of the 10 richest provinces were Surigao del Norte (P16.684 billion), Leyte (P13.541 billion) and Palawan (P13.036 billion).
The total assets of LGUs climbed to P2.548 trillion from P2.092 trillion in 2018, the state auditor said.
The AFR aims to provide essential information on the financial condition, performance, changes in equity, cash flows and comparative budget and actual amount of LGUs and the local government sector as a whole, to a wide range of users and stakeholders./PN
