Manila is the most competitive highly urbanized city in the country based on the 2020 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI).

Awarded during the 8th Regional Competitiveness Summit on Wednesday, the City Government of Manila grabbed the first spot for the “Overall Competitiveness Award for Highly Urbanized Cities.”

The recognition was made after the local government also received the following acknowledgements for the highly urbanized cities bracket:

– Top 1 Most Competitive in Government Efficiency Award

– Top 1 Most Competitive in Infastructure Award

– Top 3 Most Competitive in Economic Dynamism

– Top 3 Most Competitive in Resiliency

The award was based on the programs being implemented by the cities in order to improve their “economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure and resiliency.”

It was then compiled by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC).

Scores on the said four pillars were then added in order to select which city in the country will emerge as the overall competitive city.

The economic dynamism was scored based on the following: cost of doing business, cost of living, financial deepening, increase in employment, local economy growth, local economy size, presence of business and professional organization, productivity, safety compliant business, and local economy structure.

Government efficiency, meanwhile, was based on the data on compliance to business permits and licensing system standards, business registration efficiency, capacity of health services, compliance to national directives, capacity of school services, recognition of performance, peace and order, presence of investment promotion unit, capacity to generate local resource, and social protection.

The NCC then looked on the factors of availability of basic utilities, accommodation capacity, financial technology capacity, distance to ports, education, health, information technology capacity, local government investment, road network, and transportation vehicles in scoring the infrastructure category.

Lastly, the city’s program to conduct an annual disaster drill, budget for disaster management, disaster risk reduction plan, emergency infrastructure, employed population, early warning system, local risk assessments, land use plan, sanitary system, and utilities were measured in scoring the resiliency pillar. CURRENTPH