Various cities and municipalities were honored by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines for gaining the highest number of intellectual property (IP) applications and approvals in 2023.

The Special Awards on IP Rights were divided into categories, namely Highly Urbanized Cities, Component Cities, 1st to 2nd Municipalities, 3rd to 4th Municipalities and 5th to 6th Municipalities. 

Under the Highly Urbanized Cities category, the top three reigning cities were unchanged, as Quezon City continued to top the list with IP filings and approved registrations reaching 8,864, followed by the City of Manila with 4,738 while Makati City came in third with 4,493.

There was also no change of hands in the Component City category as Antipolo, Rizal; Meycauayan, Bulacan; and Bacoor, Cavite dominated with 486, 292, and 260 filings and registrations, respectively. 

For municipalities, Cainta, Rizal bagged the top IP honors with 380 filings, followed by

Argao, Cebu (305) and Binalonan, Pangasinan (279) in third, under the 1^st to 2^nd category.

For 3rd to 4^th class municipalities, Lamut, Ifugao garnered the top spot with 89 filings, followed by Pontevedra, Capiz (75) and Palo, Leyte (70).

For the 5th to 6th Municipalities, Pakil, Laguna got the highest filing with 32, trailed by

San Juan, Southern Leyte (21) and Biliran, Biliran (21).

The awards were conferred last August 23 as part of the annual Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) awarding ceremony led by IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba, Deputy Director General Ann Claire C. Cabochan, Documentation, Information and Technology Transfer Bureau (DITTB) Director Ralph Jarvis H. Alindogan and DITTB Assistant Director Chamlette D. Garcia. 

IPOPHL’s Barba expressed hopes that the Special Awards for Intellectual Property Rights will highlight how intellectual property (or IP) can help foster innovation and creativity in our cities and municipalities. 

“The protection of IP rights not only ensures that individual Filipinos will benefit from their creativity and innovation, but also their communities,” he said.

“That is why the inclusion of IP and innovation in the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (or CMCI) underlines the importance of local governments in harnessing the creative capital of their citizens to improve or sustain productivity,” Barba added. 

The CMCI Awards recognize cities and municipalities with a high level of competitiveness and were assessed based on their Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, Infrastructure, Resiliency, and Innovation. 

Under the Innovation Pillar, IP application and registration stands as one of the indicators given the role of the IP system in incentivizing the creation and development of new innovative products, services or processes.