‘Operability, not just risks, costs’

Photo by. egypttoday.com Obviously, cities, municipalities and provinces which are among the top 10 least competitive LGU are leagues away from the capital region.

The Philippines, which has run under a unitary form of government since declaring independence in 1898, only recently joined the ranks of the newly industrialized countries, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The archipelago, the IMF said, is also the 34th largest economy in terms of nominal gross domestic product at $371.8 billion. Its purchasing power parity ranked 29th worldwide and estimated at less than a trillion dollars.

These figures may indicate the Philippines is on the quick road to G20 status or one of the world’s richest by 2050 as targeted.

2018 data on Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index show that four of five provinces in the Calabarzon region are within the top 10. Interestingly, three of the top five border the National Capital Region (NCR) – Rizal at number one, Laguna second and Cavite settling at fourth.

Nearby Batangas province sat at ninth place. Quezon, the least competitive among the Calabarzon provinces, ranked higher than Bulacan, considering the latter is a progressive province forming part of the Greater Manila Area.

Five of the top 10 cities are also within Metro Manila: Quezon City (first), Manila (second), Pasay (third), Makati (fifth) and Pasig (sixth). Similarly, four out of top six most competitive municipalities were also within the 35-kilometer radius from Kilometer Zero: Cainta (first), Taytay (second), Carmona (fourth) and Binangonan (sixth).

Obviously, cities, municipalities and provinces which are among the top 10 least competitive LGU are leagues away from the capital region.

Is the competition intense only in the capital? Are the leading municipalities under the direct influence of “Imperial Manila?” Or are the provincial rankings merely just “Calabarzoned?”

If this is the case, it is no surprise that legislators have pushed for a new form of government for economic reasons aside from political. A form of government that will push and enable competitiveness between to-be-formed states.

Majority of the lawmakers as of this moment have one choice in mind: Federalism.

On Thursday, in line with the 2018 Regional Competitiveness Summit, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said that a “Federal Republic of the Philippines” will see more competition, as states have their own laws and regulations in their own territory.

“It won’t be one province per state, [but rather] it will be a group of provinces,” he told reporters, citing that poor administrative regions will receive assistance from the to-be-formed federal government. “But the least developed ones will have to attract investments.”

Lopez said the thinking was for states to compete with each other, just like in other countries under federal system of government.

“They can even lower their local taxes, they can provide incentives so that you will really think of locating this country because the taxes, corporate and personal, are lower,” the trade chief added.

Lopez said the thinking was for states to compete with each other, just like in other countries under federal system of government.

He also said he was looking more on operability rather than risks and costs of the shift from a unitary to a federal system.

Looking for an example of competitiveness ranking per state in a federal system, go to the forefather of modern Federalism, the United States.

A federal country since 1776, where states have implemented their own ways of attracting investors and self-growth, the American Legislative and Exchange Council (ALEC) has revealed the growth of each of the 50 states, with the latest in 2016. ALEC’s studies have been in use by legislators since 2008.

Surprisingly, the bottom 10 have some states containing megacities. California, home of Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, was at number 46. New York, which of course has New York City, was at rock bottom in 50th place. Maryland and Virginia, two states that sandwiched the capital Washington DC, wasn’t even in the top ten.

To add more interest, Utah, North Carolina and North Dakota make up the top three of the richest states. Wyoming, the most sparsely populated, was in the top four.