DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday that he is hopeful the city will sustain its economic growth, citing good governance and leadership.
Duterte also welcomed the recognition of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), which ranked the city as the fourth most competitive city in the Philippines based on the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) 2014.
"Happy ta. Government spending mauna gyud na. Start to build roads, especially padulong sa tourist destinations," he said.
He said the city's economy started to boom in the last five years when investors prefer to have their business here.
"Basta lang magkaintindihan tayo dito, Muslim, lumads, maranao, habang nagkaroon tayo ng magandang relasyon at wala tayong problema. Pati mga MILF, MNLF, Nur, leadership of Bangsamoro, NPA dili kaayo mag engage ug away, we are ok. In the fullest of God's time, we will continue to grow as the years go by. Ma su-sustain natin to. It's a question of leadership," he said.
Duterte also said a successful administration can be measured by ways on how to keep the city clean and peaceful.
The city ranked as the fourth most competitive city in the Philippines. Davao City placed first in infrastructure. Among the sub-indicators under this aspect, the city placed high when it came to Department of Tourism (DOT) accredited accommodations (3), health infrastructure (10), education infrastructure (2), annual investments in infrastructure (1), number of automated teller machines available (3), and number of public transportations (3).
The NCC ranked the cities' competitiveness based on overall competitiveness score, which is the sum of scores on three main pillars -- economic dynamism, government efficiency and infrastructure – that pool data from several sub-indicators.