Rizal named 2017 Most Competitive province nationwide; Angono places 3rd among 1st-2nd class towns nationwide with Cainta, Taytay and Antipolo as top winners also

By Richard R. Gappi

Rizal has another reason to celebrate and be proud as the National Competitiveness Council-Philippines rewarded the province with 1st place as the Most Competitive among the provinces nationwide.

The awarding, led by NCC-Philippines chairpersons Guillermo Luz and Department of Trade and Industry secretary Ramon Lopez, was held this Wednesday afternoon, August 16, 2017 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

For its part, Angono won 3rd place as the Overall Most Competitive among 1st and 2nd class municipalities and 3rd place in the Infrastructure pillar in the country. It ranked 13th in economic dynamism, 7th in government efficiency, and 5th in resiliency.

It has improved its standing as it placed 6th overall most competitive last year. In 2015, it was No. 1 in Infrastructure pillar or category.

The competitiveness of a municipality or city is measured based on three pillars namely economic dynamism, government efficiency, and infrastructure, in which each pillar has indicators which provide a more detailed view of the economic status of the locality.

This year, the NCC-Philippines added resiliency as another pillar to highlight and strengthen the disaster risk reduction and management efforts of local and city government units.

Cainta, repeating its victory last year, won 1st place as Overall Most Competitive followed by Taytay.

Antipolo City likewise landed 1st as Most Competitive among component cities in the country.

NCC-Philippines noted that the indexing of LGUs based on its competitiveness gives the private sector a basis for studying cities and determining where to locate their investments in the country.

For the public sector, this becomes a diagnostic tool so the public executives may know whether they are delivering or not delivering, whether they are getting better or not improving, and whether they are getting the results they want or not.

The Public-Private Sector Task Force on Philippine Competitiveness was created in October 2006 by virtue of Presidential Executive Order No. 571 to promote and develop national competitiveness.

In June 2011, President Aquino issued Executive Order No. 44 amending E.O. 571, renaming the Public-Private Sector Task Force on Philippine Competitiveness as the National Competitiveness Council, and expanding its membership.

NCC-Philippines’ vision is to promote a more competitive Philippines and instill a culture of excellence, through public-private sector collaboration as means to reduce poverty through inclusive growth.

Its mission, meanwhile, is to implement the action agenda with private sector initiatives that support public policies.