DAGUPAN CITY, Jan 23 (PIA) - More local government units (LGUs) in Pangasinan have made it to the Top 20 ranking nationwide in the 2020 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Regional Director Grace Falgui-Baluyan said these LGUs excelled in four competitiveness pillars - economic dynamism, government efficiency, infrastructure, and resiliency under different categories.

"We all recognize that LGUs take the lead role in enhancing the competitiveness of their respective cities, municipalities and provinces. As we raise the level of competitiveness of more territories, we also help contribute to enhancing long-term competitiveness of our country," Baluyan said during the virtual ceremony held on January 18.

Correlating competitiveness to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Baluyan explained that as of 2018, Region One's contribution to the national GDP was placed at 3.14% which is ranked 8th among other regions.

"Competitiveness impacts to the ability to reproduce products and services. The more business enterprise locating in the region increases possible contribution to national GDP," she added.

Pangasinan LGUs that made it to the national level per pillar include:

Sison (Rank 3) and Tayug (Rank 7) for Economic Dynamism; Dagupan City (Rank 19) for Government Efficiency ; Tayug (Rank 10) for Infrastructure; Natividad (Rank 15) and Calasiao (Rank 20) for Resiliency pillar.

Awardees for the Most Improved LGUs nationwide include: Alaminos City at Rank 6; San Manuel at Rank 11; Urdaneta City at Rank 15 and Basista coming in at Rank 17.

For the regional setting, conferment of awards under the component cities category include Dagupan City which ranked 1st in government efficiency and infrastructure and ranked 2nd in economic and over-all competitiveness; San Carlos City and Urdaneta City ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively under the resiliency component.

For the 1st to 2nd class municipalities, Bayambang was cited at Rank 1 in government efficiency and bagged the 3rd place in resiliency and infrastructure; Calasiao was ranked 2nd in resiliency and 3rd in government efficiency and over-all competitiveness. Rosales town bagged the 2nd spot in the infrastructure category.

As for the 3rd-4th class municipalities, Tayug ranked 1st in Infrastructure and 2nd in economic dynamism and over-all competitivness; Sison bagged rank 1 in economic dynamism while Natividad claimed the 3rd spot in resiliency

Completing the awardees for the 5th to 6th class is Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan.

The LGUs of San Manuel (1st-2nd class) and Basista (3rd-4th class) were also cited as the most improved municipalities in the region.

Special award was given to Bayambang (1st to 2nd class) for being an Early Bird in the submission of local data capture and annexes.

For the province, Gov. Amado Espino III, who was represented by Pubic Employment and Service Office Manager Alex Ferrer during the event, congratulated all the awardees and lauded the DTI as its dynamic partner in realizing the country's goal for local competitiveness. (JCR/VHS, PIA Pangasinan)