Businessmen in Bacolod claimed yesterday that the city’s exclusion from the list of the top 10 most competitive cities in the Philippines in 2013 by the National Competitiveness Commission will not drive potential investors away.

The ranking for the period from December 2013 to April 2014 showed Bacolod City dropping to 20th place from being in the top five.

The president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the city has already established its name and its exclusion from the lists of most competitive cities in the Philippines this time will not affect it.

Frank Carbon also said that while potential investors look at the numbers, they visit the ground and check the real scenario in the area where they want to put up their business.

The booming economy of Bacolod brought by the Business Process Outsourcing firms and the construction industry will remain as the city’s selling points and would enable the city to compete with other cities listed as “the most competitive” by the NCC, he claimed.

Like Carbon, Roberto Magalona, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Negros Occidental said Bacolod’s ranking in the recent competitiveness assessment will not define the city’s economic status.

Magalona said he believes that Bacolod could easily climb back to the top and even beat other cities.

The evaluation conducted by NCC from December 2013 to April 2014 showed that Bacolod landed in the 20th spot of the most competitive cities in the Philippines from being in the top 5 last year and among the top 10 in the previous years.

The areas that the NCC evaluated included economic dynamism index of a city or municipally measured through business registration figures, employment and financial institutions and infrastructure developments.

NCC also evaluated the Local Government Units based on their government efficiency in terms of transparency and accountability, public finance, performance recognition, business responsiveness and basic government services.*APN

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