Bohol skips 11 notches 

In nat’l competiveness 

TAGBILARAN CITY, August 18 (PIA)—Competitiveness wise, Bohol leaps 11 notches from its 23rd rank of the country’s most competitive local government units in 2017 to sit 12th in the country this year, data from the 6th Regional Competitiveness Summit revealed. 

And since Bohol is a sum of its local government units (LGUs), the same recognition in increased competitiveness in its towns also surfaced during the summit held at the Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City, August 16, 2018. 

Bohol bagged this year’s 12th spot in the Most Competitive Province Category, a huge improvement from 2017's ranking of 23, said Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Regional Director Asteria Caberte recently. 

This year’s rank is also 24 notches over its 36th rank in 2016, when Bohol stepped over 42 other provinces from its 54th rank in 2015, according to the local DTI press statement. 

This year, the provinces of Rizal, Laguna and Davao Del Norte occupied the country’s top three competitiveness spot. 

For the component cities category, Tagbilaran City also showed promise as it logged an over-all better ranking when it claimed the 8th spot for the Overall Competitiveness, a 13 notch leap from its 21st ranking last year. 

Tagbilaran City also ranks 17th Most Improved Component City, 9th in Economic Dynamism, 6th in Government Efficiency and 13th in Infrastructure. 

Legazpi City, Albay, Naga Camarines Sur and Tagum, Davao del Norte occupies this year’s top component cities competitiveness rankings. 

As to Bohol LGUs, there have been a general picture of facilitated ease of business as shown in the competitiveness indices over other municipalities in the country, based on this year’s results. 

For the 1st and 2nd class municipalities: LGU Talibon and Loon took the 7th and 9th place respectively for Economic Dynamism. 

On the other hand, for 3rd to 6th class municipalities, LGU Jagna (2nd), Antequera (3rd), and Corella (7th) took the spot for Economic Dynamism. 

On government Efficiency, Valencia ranked (11th) and Trinidad (18th). 

Meanwhile, Alburquerque finished (13th) for Infrastructure; Sierra Bullones (2nd) and Batuan (8th) for Resiliency. 

With the total scores of each pillar, Municipalities of Jagna (4th), Corella (11th), Antequera (12th) and Sierra Bullones (16th), took the spot for the Overall Most Competitive Municipalities. 

The award is part of the Cities and Municipalities 

Competitiveness Index program of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC). 

Aligned with the goal to improve the country’s overall competitiveness, the program measures the competitiveness level of the different LGUs in the country based on their performance on the four pillars anchored on global standards: Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, Infrastructure and Resiliency. 

A number of indicators are identified in each pillar to provide more detailed view of the locality. 

Final scoring and ranking are based on outputs of the data submitted by the participating LGUs. 

Since the program’s inception, this year’s round of survey covered more than 1,500 LGUs all over the country. 

Witnessed by over 1,000 delegates from the different LGUs, national government agencies and private sectors, the summit emphasized the importance of local competitiveness as the foundation of national competitiveness. 

Underscoring the value of the recognitions, awards were presented and conferred to the best performing LGUs by prominent leaders from different sectors of the country. 

The result of this year’s survey would soon be available through the National Competitiveness Council’s website: www.competitive.org.ph., according to the DTI in Bohol. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol) 

DTI Central Visayas regional Director Aster Caberte and DTI Bohol Marisol Balistoy flank awardees during the NCC’s Competitiveness Summit in Pasay City this week. (DTI Bohol)