B A C O L O D
Most Competitive Mid-sized City

     Fresh from the baptism of being in the Hall of Fame as the "Cleanest and Greenest Highly Urbanized City in the Philippines", the City of Bacolod has recently catapulted into another national reputation. This time, in the realm of economic competitiveness.
     This Capital City of the Sugarlandia is proud today as the "Most Competitive Mid-sized City in the Philippines" after she earned 6.62 points in the Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project 2003 which was conducted to 50 cities nationwide.
     Bestowed to her by the Asian Institute of Management in collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry, Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The Asia Foundation, German Technical Cooperation, International Labor Organization, and various leading educational institutions in the country, the said title was based on various "competitiveness drivers" such as: Infrastructure Adequacy and Quality, Cost of Doing Business, Dynamism of the Local Economy, Human Resource and Training, Linkages and Accessibility, Responsiveness of Local Governance, and Quality of Life.
     Among the 13 mid-sized cities, Bacolod City ranked FIRST, earning 6.46 points, in "Infrastructure Adequacy and Quality" which indicates that the city has sufficient physical, technological, and knowledge support services that are required in transacting business such as: road infrastructure, telecommunications, production factors and transport systems. This criterion includes the number of banks, road density, vehicle density, number of internet service providers, well-managed road network and traffic, road clearance during peak hours, reliability of electric power services, abundance of water supply, easy connection of telephone lines from other service providers, adequate cellular phone signals, reliability of internet service providers, and adequate garbage management.
     In the same group of cities, Bacolod City also ranked FIRST in the "Quality of Life" after receiving a score of 7.04 points. This criterion which determine the quality of environment and life in the city is based on the incidence of theft per 100,000 population, incidence of murder per 100,000 population, hospital beds per 100,000 population, life expectancy at birth, cleanliness of roads and public open spaces, adequacy of rest and recreational facilities, conduciveness of the security environment to businesses.
     Bacolod City got 7.36 points thus ranked FIRST in "Human Resources and Training" which measures the capacity of the city's population to build and take advantage of opportunity in the locality. This criterion measures number of tertiary education institutions, number of vocational institutions, skilled labor availability, easily trainable workforce, appropriate academic programs for local industry, adequate IT training programs, eagerness of workers to skill development, importance of investing in skills development, availability of training programs organized by schools and industry partners, expectation on workers performance, constructive labor-management relations, availability of businesses that allows on-the-job trainees, effective management of workers, link between job satisfaction and worker productivity, if poor labor practices are discouraged in the city, and strong worker suggestion on business operations.
     Bacolod City ranked SECOND in terms of "Dynamism of the Local Economy" and "Responsiveness of the Local Government Unit" after earning a score of 6.58 points and 6.18 points, respectively.
     The  "Dynamism of the Local Economy" criterion indicates the capability of the city to attract and foster inward investments. It includes the measurement of the number of household income, local inflation rate, percentage of top 200 corporations, population versus fast food chain locators, market size, consumer price index, vibrancy of tourism sector, expectation in business revenue, business access to financing, and conduciveness of regulatory environment to business.
     The "Responsiveness of the Local Government Unit" criterion suggests that the city has the ability to respond to systematic and short-lived issues with a well-grounded and focused vision. This considers the percentage of Internal Revenue Allotment to the local revenue, simplicity and efficiency of processing business permit, transparency of the local government, fairness in the administration of justice, relationships of policies and regulations to business needs, holding of regular public forums, appropriateness of development plan to business needs, reasonability and and flexibility of land use plan, involvement of the city in the development of the human resources, and effectiveness of assistance to displaced workers.
     Bacolod City did not fair well only in the criterion of "Linkages and Accessibility" which indicates the ability of the city to transport goods and services. The references for this criterion are the location and the time of transporting the raw materials, location of international entry and exit points, availability of business support services, extent and benefits of business collaboration in the city, and the extent of services of the national government agencies.
     Based upon the over-all result of the above-said survey criteria, the strength of the City of Bacolod is in the existence of more vocational institutions, higher vehicle density, negligible incidence of theft per 100,000 population, negligible incidence of murder per 100,000 population, average rent of commercial space, average installation cost of new telephone lines, adequate signals of cellular phones, reliability of internet service providers, business allowing on-the-job training for students, and skills training and development program.
     The survey result also shows that Bacolod City has an average household income, market size, road density, percentage of IRA to local revenue, hospital beds per 100,000 population, and less worries of business on human resource.
     However, according to the survey, Bacolod City needs to improve in the following areas: cost of power for industrial use, number of banks, life expectancy at birth, and the number of internet service providers.*(by: Daniel Cajurao-CMO-PIO)