Thursday, February 16, 2006
Cebu City shut out of Top 20 list
By Linette C. Ramos
CEBU CITY -- Twenty cities were chosen by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) as the most viable business sites in the country. Cebu City was not included.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña welcomed the results of the AIM Policy Center study, saying the City Government can use them as a basis for improvement.
He said, though, that he will first look at the criteria used to evaluate the performance of the 65 cities covered in the study.
"We will take it objectively and see what we can do. We cannot improve unless we open up and listen to what they say, but there's no doubt in my mind that as far as business in Cebu is concerned, the number speaks for itself," he told reporters Wednesday.Osmeña added that Cebu City may not have been chosen as one of the most competitive cities, but investors continue to do business here and tourist arrivals remain high.
The AIM Policy Center, with the help of the United States Agency for International Development, conducted the study and picked the 20 most competitive cities, in terms of promoting an environment that makes people and businesses most productive.
"We have to look at the details of the study. There's always some chance for error, but I'm not looking for errors, I'm looking for our weaknesses so we can improve," he said.
7 factors
"Getting drunk with out successes will get us down so we have to listen to what they have to say," the mayor continued.
The cities of Davao, Las Piñas, Makati, Marikina and Muntinlupa were chosen for their viability in the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project conducted recently.
All 65 cities included in the study were evaluated based on seven factors that drive competitiveness, AIM Policy Center executive director Federico Macaranas was quoted as saying in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report.
The criteria used were cost of doing business, links to major urban and growth centers, dynamism of local economy, human resource and training, adequacy and quality of infrastructure, responsiveness of local governance, and quality of life in the cities.
The evaluations were also based on statistics provided by the concerned local government units, as well as perceptions of leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the cities.
Competition
"We have been aggressive in collecting taxes but should we count that as far as viability is concerned? I don't think so. We have loan payments to make, but we're still able to at least maintain a certain level of basic services," Osmeña said.
Macaranas reportedly said the awardees were cited en masse and not by rank, to foster healthy competition.
The mid-sized cities named, with a population of more than 200,000, were Bacolod, Iligan, Iloilo and San Fernando in Pampanga.
Small cities, or those with a population of less than 200,000, include Dagupan, Koronadal, Legaspi, Naga, Olongapo, San Fernano in La Union, Sta. Rosa, Surigao, Tagbilaran and Tagum, the Inquirer report said. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(February 16, 2006 issue)
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