Bauan, Calaca, Lemery, San Juan and Santo Tomas Batangas’ 2018 Most Competitive Towns

Image source:  Google Earth Street View.

The municipalities of Bauan, Calaca, Lemery, San Juan and Santo Tomas were adjudged Batangas’ most competitive in the 2018 edition of the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index released last August by the National Competitiveness Council. Bauan, second last year, took over the top spot from Lemery, which dropped to third. Calaca rose two places from fourth last year.

Rosario dropped from third in 2017 to 9^th this year; while Taal fell one place to 6^th. Their places in the top five were taken over by San Juan, which was 7^th last year; and Santo Tomas, which rose five places from 10^th in 2017.

The annual competitiveness index ranks local government units around the country using data that attempts to gauge the competitiveness of each in four pre-identified pillars: economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure and resilience. It is calculated annually to give local governments a tool for ascertaining areas for “improvement and collaboration;” the private sector crucial business information; and academe “a take-off point for further research¹.” Scores are influenced by the “completeness of the submitted data,” so it goes without saying that the diligence of local governments in collecting relevant data is also crucial to the overall rankings.

The archipelagic town of Tingloy remains rooted to the bottom of the table, where it is joined in the bottom 5 by the municipalities of Ibaan, Balete, Lian and Agoncillo. Balete and Ibaan were 19^th and 20^th in 2017, respectively; but fell heavily to 28^th and 27^th, respectively. Lian also fell heavily from 18^th to 29^th; while Agoncillo fell two places from 28^th in 2017 to 30^th this year.

In Buhay Batangas’ (as Life so Mundane in Batangas) previous coverage of the competitiveness index, it was typical to present how the top and bottom towns performed in terms of total scores and national rankings in the four identified pillars. However, at the time the data for this article was accumulated, the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index web site was not properly connected to the database so that the scores columns for the pillars indicated null (0). Hence, this article is limited to total scores – which were available – and national rankings – which were also available.

It is worth noting that of the 31 municipalities of Batangas, no less than 15 or almost half dropped from their 2017 provincial rankings. The heaviest drops were suffered by Balete and Lian, who fell 10 and 11 places, respectively. At the opposite end, Mabini was the biggest gainer, rising all of 12 places from 23^rd in 2017 to 11^th this year. San Nicolas also rose 10 places from 30^th in 2017 to 20^th this year.

The drops are more pronounced in the national rankings, where Lian – for instance – dropped 569 places from 525^th in 2017 to 1,094^th this year. Other significant drops were experienced by Balete (down 498 places nationwide), Ibaan (465 places), Nasugbu (408 places) and San Jose (406 places).

A seminar particularly for the collection of data for the competitiveness index was held earlier this year for local government units. It has to be pointed out to the reader that the diligence – or the absence thereof – of these units to collect and present accurate data is an important influence on the ultimate scores. The question that should be foremost in everyone’s minds is can a municipality really deteriorate so much in one fiscal year; or as the rankings make them appear?

Below is the complete ranking table.  The reader will please note that the table uses data from the All Municipalities category.

		Total Scores				Provincial Ranking				National Ranking
		2017	2018	+/-		2017	2018	+/-		2017	2018	+/-
1	Bauan	39.94	39.97	0.03		2	1	1		31	33	-2
2	Calaca	38.88	39.84	0.96		4	2	2		43	38	5
3	Lemery	40.47	38.75	-1.72		1	3	-2		25	70	-45
4	San Juan	38.10	37.99	-0.11		7	4	3		73	130	-57
5	Santo Tomas	36.03	37.82	1.79		10	5	5		211	153	58
6	Taal	38.81	37.30	-1.51		5	6	-1		44	221	-177
7	Malvar	34.99	36.52	1.53		13	7	6		324	330	-6
8	Alitagtag	34.65	36.42	1.77		14	8	6		363	349	14
9	Rosario	39.18	36.28	-2.90		3	9	-6		40	376	-336
10	Mataasnakahoy	36.85	36.16	-0.69		9	10	-1		147	395	-248
11	Mabini	32.31	35.80	3.49		23	11	12		633	447	186
12	Nasugbu	38.16	35.59	-2.57		6	12	-6		70	478	-408
13	San Jose	37.78	35.50	-2.28		8	13	-5		91	497	-406
14	Padre Garcia	33.44	35.44	2.00		16	14	2		503	506	-3
15	San Pascual	34.62	35.14	0.52		15	15	0		368	539	-171
16	Lobo	35.89	34.92	-0.97		12	16	-4		230	576	-346
17	Balayan	35.92	34.86	-1.06		11	17	-6		226	585	-359
18	San Luis	30.83	34.78	3.95		25	18	7		790	593	197
19	Santa Teresita	30.42	33.96	3.54		26	19	7		833	694	139
20	San Nicolas	23.63	33.71	10.08		30	20	10		1,166	718	448
21	Taysan	33.38	33.34	-0.04		17	21	-4		507	756	-249
22	Calatagan	29.92	33.24	3.32		27	22	5		877	765	112
23	Talisay	28.82	32.75	3.93		29	23	6		960	825	135
24	Laurel	31.59	32.48	0.89		24	24	0		715	848	-133
25	Cuenca	32.66	32.43	-0.23		22	25	-3		593	854	-261
26	Tuy	32.69	31.76	-0.93		21	26	-5		590	915	-325
27	Ibaan	32.82	30.39	-2.43		20	27	-7		573	1,038	-465
28	Balete	32.94	30.18	-2.76		18	28	-10		561	1,059	-498
29	Lian	33.23	29.65	-3.58		18	29	-11		525	1,094	-569
30	Agoncillo	28.96	29.25	0.29		28	30	-2		950	1,113	-163
31	Tingloy	17.69	23.16	5.47		31	31	0		1,247	1,287	-40

To follow through to the overall scores of each municipality, please click this link: Batangas Province Cities and Municipalities
To read about the 2017 rankings, please click on this link: 2017 Municipalities Competitiveness Index for Batangas
To visit the Cities and Municipalities overall rankings page, click here: Rankings of Cities and Municipalities

Notes and references:
¹ “About the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index,” online at the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index.