Adding more feathers in its cap, Bacolod City bagged two more awards, this time for being the Most Competitive Highly Urbanized City (HUC) in Western Visayas.
On Monday, this city was recognized for topping two out of the four pillars — Economic Dynamism and Infrastructure — in the 3rd Recognition Ceremony for Competitive Local Government Units (LGUs) held at Hotel del Rio in Iloilo City.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia, who was represented by Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran in receiving the awards, said in a statement the recognition shows that Bacolod has an environment conducive for businesses to grow.
“Our efforts to make the city business-friendly are now reaping fruits,” he added.
The Regional Competitiveness Council (RCC-6), a public-private body, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-6) bestowed the awards based on the assessment of the competitiveness of the LGUs using four pillars — Economic Dynamism, Infrastructure, Government Efficiency, and Resiliency.
In terms of Economic Dynamism, Bacolod has been cited for initiating “programs creating a stable expansion of business and industries and higher employment,” while in Infrastructure, for having “the physical building blocks that connect, expand, and sustain a locality and its surroundings that enable a seamless flow of goods and services.”
“This is indeed a blissful year for Bacolod City. We have received numerous awards from different organizations,” said Familiaran after receiving the awards from DTI-6 Regional Director Rebecca Rascon, who also chairs the RCC-6.
He hoped the awards received by Bacolod will also encourage all the other LGUs to “do better than our best” and “to go beyond what is expected of us.”
Bacolod and Iloilo competed in the same category, being the only two HUCs in Western Visayas.
Last year, Bacolod was No. 1 among the HUCs in the Visayas after moving up to eighth from the 20th spot in 2017 in the Overall Most Competitive HUCs list and was also ranked as the third Most Improved LGU in the HUCs category of the 2018 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index.
The said ranking was announced by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) during the 6th Competitiveness Summit and Awards held in August last year.
In September this year, Bacolod was also awarded the Top Philippine Model City for 2019 by The Manila Times and in October, the city also received a Special Citation in the Most Business-Friendly LGU Awards of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (PNA)
