The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced that Bacolod City was declared the “Most Improved Highly Urbanized City (HUC)” in Western Visayas for 2020.

The city received the award during the 4th Regional Competitiveness Council (RCC) Recognition Ceremony for Competitive Local Government Units (LGUs) held in Iloilo City on December 29.

Aside from this major award, Bacolod City also topped two of the four pillars of the 2020 Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index (CMCI). These are Infrastructure and Resiliency. The other two pillars are Economic Dynamism and Government Efficiency.

The DTI-6 is giving annual recognition to outstanding LGUs in the region that excel in the CMCI. LGUs are awarded in the following classifications: 5th to 6th class municipalities, 3rd to 4th class municipalities, 1st to 2nd class municipalities, component cities, and highly urbanized cities.

To recall, last December, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) came out with its Top 20 Most Competitive HUCs list, wherein Bacolod ranked 11th, besting Iloilo City and Cebu City, which placed 12th and 13th, respectively.

The Top 20 list was led by the cities of Manila, Davao and Pasay.

Based on this list, Bacolod is now considered the “Most Competitive City in the Visayas.”

“This is a big morale booster for the fact that we continue to rank among the most competitive cities of the country despite the serious crisis we went through in the fight against COVID-19,” Mayor Evelio Leonardia said.

He added, “This gives us valid reasons to be optimistic. When this crisis is over, we can surely put Bacolod back on track and continue the rapid growth we were enjoying before the pandemic upset the economy.”/WDJ