METRO NEWS
December 16-22, 2021
QC is top local gov’t, back as PHL’s most competitive By Claire Morales True QUEZON CITY - The Quezon City government has emerged as the country’s best local government unit with the highest nominal locally sourced revenues of P21.57 billion, eclipsing Makati City and Manila. Mayor Josefina Belmonte received four awards from the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) of the Department of Interior and Local Government during a recognition program held in Mabalacat City, Pampanga. In another development, Quezon City was adjudged as the country’s most competitive city in this year’s Cities and Munic-
ipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI), an annual ranking of cities and municipalities across the country that builds, maps out and tracks local competitiveness. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said during the 9th Regional Competitiveness Summit that Quezon City landed in the top three in four pillars of the CMCI, which include economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure, and resiliency. Quezon City placed second for economic dynamism, government efficiency, and infrastructure pillars, and third for resiliency pillars. Following Quezon City as the country’s
most competitive city is Manila, which slipped by a notch in the ranking. The Philippine capital was CMCI 2020’s most competitive city. In this year’s index, Manila also led Philippine cities in the pillars of government efficiency and infrastructure. Pasay City has maintained its ranking at third place for two consecutive years. Pasay City landed the top position in terms of economic dynamism. Davao City was displaced in the top three most competitive cities during this year’s CMCI after data from Quezon City local government unit (LGU) were captured for CMCI 2021.
Metro Manila, 16 other regions now ‘minimal risk’ for Covid-19 MANILA – All 17 regions in the country are now classified “minimal risk” for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) while all island groups showed plateauing in the case trend. This was reported by Director Alethea de Guzman, officer in charge of the Department of Health (DOH) Epidemiology Bureau, adding the country logged an av-
erage of 380 cases per day for the period of December 8 to 14. The number is 26 percent lower than the average of 516 cases per day during the previous week. “This is among our lowest cases since we had the peak around August 2020 last year, 1,130 cases for the period of December 27 to January 2, and after the April
2021 peak at 4,982 cases for the period of July 12 to 18,” De Guzman said. As for Metro Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR), the average daily cases reported is lower than the lowest cases after the peak months of August 2020 and April 2021. For the period December 8 to 14, NCR’s average daily cases was 83, or 20
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Senate, House ratify P5-trillion 2022 nat’l budget MANILA – The Senate and the House of Representatives have ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the proposed P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022. During the plenary session, the chamber ratified the final version of the spending measure after the bicameral committee reconciled the disagreeing provisions earlier in the day. Following its ratification, the 2022 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) will be transmitted to Malacañang for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature. Among the amendments introduced in the final version of the proposed 2022 budget is the increase in the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC)’s budget to P17.1 billion after it was initially cut down to P4 billion. House committee on appropriations chair Eric Yap said the proposed 2022 budget would be “crucial for our full recovery from the pandemic as a nation.” “Rest assured that the government’s battle strategy on health and nutrition, social protection, governance, and development, are carried out in this budget,” Yap said. The proposed 2022 General Appropriations Act is 11.5 percent higher than this year’s P4.506 trillion.
