DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/22 July) — Davao City received four awards, including the prestigious Best in Quality Life Honor, following the 2009 Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project study conducted by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).
Davao City edged out Cebu in the metropolitan growth centers category of the award which Roberto Alabado III, Officer-in-Charge of the City Planning and Development Office described as “the biggest prize”.
“That’s the role of the LGU to give its constituents quality of life,” Alabado told MindaNews.
“That’s the biggest prize we got,” he added.
Davao City also copped the top awards in documentation, compliance with government mandated plans and support to micro-small-medium enterprises.
Cebu also won four honors namely, best in infrastructure, dynamism of local economy, most honest and transparent in its dealings, and disaster preparedness.
“We received four awards and so has Cebu and we are now on equal footing with Cebu which economy is three times bigger than us and more diverse,” Alabado said.
Metro Manila cities were not included in the study, since these are not discrete units, according to AIM.
The awards were given following a review of previous data and interviews of 60 business sectors and 30 selected cities nationwide based on various drivers of competitiveness which include dynamism of local economy, responsive of LGU to business needs, infrastructure, quality of life, cost of doing business and human resource and training.
Alabado said Davao City took the Best in Quality Life plum because “we had less pollution and good sense of security”.
“You are a rich city but you have a problem on pollution that is not good and you are a rich city but your constituents cannot walk without thinking that their cellular phones might be snatched, that is bad,” he pointed out.
Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte credited the awards to the people of Davao City.
“The awards belong to them. It would not be achieved without their support and cooperation,” he said.
The biennial PCCRP started in 1999 with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Deutsche Gesellschaft Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).
The next edition of this study would be released after three years, or in 2012, which is the middle of the term of current local governments. (Rico Biliran/MindaNews)
