Davao City slips further to 6th among competitive HUCs

DAVAO City continues to maintain its competitive edge despite sliding to the sixth position among highly urbanized cities (HUC) in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)'s 2023 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index, according to an official from Davao City Investments and Promotion Center (DCIPC) said.

DCIPC head April Marie Dayap noted that the drop from fourth place in the 2022 rankings to sixth in the 2023 competitive index can also be attributed to the progress made by other local government units (LGUs) across the Philippines.

“Davao City remains to be very, very competitive still, despite sa atong pagbaba sa atong ranking, it’s just siguro, ang ubang cities, nag-step-up jud kaayo. It’s just that grabe pod kaayo ang competitiveness pod sa ubang LGU (Davao City remains highly competitive, despite our slip in the rankings. Perhaps, other cities have made significant strides. It's just that competitiveness has intensified in other LGUs)," she said during the iSpeak media forum held at the City Mayor’s Office conference room on October 5.

Dayap added, “But hearing from DTI and looking at the numbers, we’re still very competitive.” 

Notable changes include a drop in government efficiency indicators, from being the eighth most competitive in 2022 to the sixteenth in 2023. These indicators involve compliance with government agencies and laws, presence of promotion units, capacity to support health and school services, generating local resources, obtaining business permits, maintaining peace and order, and providing social protection.

Other pillars experienced changes, with innovation indicators dropping from seventh in 2022 to 11th in 2023, and resiliency indicators slipping from sixth to seventh. 

The infrastructure pillar saw a slight improvement from sixth to fifth, while the economic dynamism pillar maintained its third-place position for the third consecutive year, as per 2021 data.

“We will review (all pillars and sub-indicators of the DTI’s index) one by one, and we try to compare it sa kadtong mga nag-step up na mga LGU and we will use it as a benchmark to unsa nga mga areas which can Davao City also improve (We will review all pillars and sub-indicators of the DTI’s index one by one, and we'll compare them to those LGUs that have improved. We'll use this as a benchmark to identify areas where Davao City can also make enhancements),” Dayap said.

Quezon City remains the most competitive local government unit in the LGU category, followed by Pasay City and Manila City.

The DTI’s Cities And Municipalities Competitive Index is an annual ranking of Philippine cities and municipalities developed by the National Competitiveness Council in collaboration with the Regional Competitiveness Committees (RCCs), with support from the United States Agency for International Development. ICE