Bontoc ‘3rd most competitive town’ in Cordillera Region

By Caren Ringor

BONTOC, Mountain Province – This capital town ranked number 3 in the Cordillera Administrative Region and landed No. 58 nationwide in the Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index (CMCI) conducted by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC).

Cities and municipalities were ranked according to overall competitiveness score.

The OCS is the sum of the scores on three main pillars which are: economic dynamism, government efficiency, and infrastructure. Bontoc ranked number 73 on economic dynamism, 52 on government efficiency, and number 156 on infrastructure.

Economic dynamism scores were based on data on the size and growth of the local economy, jobs, inflation rate, cost of doing business, financial institutions, productivity, and presence of business groups/organizations.

 Government efficiency scores were based on data on transparency scores and economic governance scores in LGPMS, local taxes and revenues, local competition-related awards, business registration efficiency, investment promotion (wherein Bontoc was ranked number 1), compliance to national directives, security, health (Bontoc ranked number 2), and education.

Infrastructure scores were based on data on existing road network, distance from city/municipality center to major ports, Department of Tourism-accredited accommodations (Bontoc ranked number 9), health infrastructure, education infrastructure, basic utilities, infrastructure investments, ICT connection, ATMs, and public transportation.

The CMCI was developed by the NCC through the regional competitiveness committees (RCCs) with the assistance of the INVEST Project of United States Agency for International Development(USAID) to encourage local government units to regularly track data and benchmark performance against other cities and municipalities to better manage their locality.

Mayor Franklin C. Odsey said, “The recognition is the result of the collective efforts of each department in the local government and the unending support of business groups, stakeholders, as well as the community in the programs that was set by the government for better public service.The municipality also aims to attain a higher rank in the next CMCI in 2015.”