Since 2013, the National Competitiveness Council, through the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index, has been advocating building more competitive local government units in order to raise the overall competitiveness of the country. Through public-private collaboration, NCC has successfully engaged LGUs to participate in the index which presents economic development and competitiveness indicators at the local government levels.

The Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index is a program which encourages LGUs to gather and submit data which will be used to measure their performance on three pillars: Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, and Infrastructure. Each pillar has indicators which provide a more detailed view of the economic status of the locality. There are 8 indicators for Economic Dynamism and 10 indicators for both Government Efficiency and Infrastructure, totaling 28 indicators. The data submitted by the Local Government Units, through the assistance of a partner Academe and the Regional Competitiveness Committees, is used for the final scoring and ranking.

In 2013, 122 cities and 163 municipalities participated in the index. This increased to 136 cities and 399 municipalities by 2014. This year, 2015, there are 142 cities and 978 municipalities participating in the index or a total of 1,120 participating local governments out of 1,634 LGUs in the country. This means 68% of the LGUs have been covered for this year’s conduct of the program versus only 17% coverage in 2013. The increasing coverage of the index signifies a higher level of awareness on the importance of being measured based on the three pillars and a stronger commitment to improve LGU performance based on the resulting ranking.

To recognize the most competitive cities and municipalities for 2015, the National Competitiveness Council will be holding the 3rd Regional Competitiveness Summit on July 16, 12:00 NN to 2:30 PM at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Reception Hall. This event will bring together over 1,000 delegates composed of Local Chief Executives, representatives from the LGUs, and delegates from National Government Agencies, the Academe, and the Private Sector.

Previously, the Council conferred awards for the Top 3 Overall Most Competitive Cities and Municipalities and also recognized the Top 3 Most Competitive Cities and Municipalities per pillar (Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, and Infrastructure). To more accurately gauge the competitiveness of the localities, NCC will also introduce new award categories during the summit. The categories include 3rd to 6th Class Municipalities, 1st to 2nd Class Municipalities, Component Cities, and Highly Urbanized Cities. Following the new categories, the winning LGUs for 2015 will be announced during the event on July 16.

The 3rd Regional Competitiveness Summit is made possible with Globe Telecom as the Major Sponsor and ANC—The ABS-CBN News Channel as a Media Partner.