QUEZON City has emerged as the country’s new wealthiest local government unit, with total assets of P452.333 billion in 2020 to dethrone Makati City which has P238.465 billion in its coffers.
The province of Cebu dropped one rung to land at third place with P213 billion in total assets.
These figures were contained in the 2020 Annual Financial Report (AFR) on LGUs released by the Commission on Audit last December 22.
The 373-page report covered all of the country’s 81 provinces, 145 out of 146 cities, and 1,447 out of 1,488 municipalities that have submitted their 2020 financial statements for a 97.6 compliance.
In the 2019 AFR, QC only listed P96.423 billion in assets, but this ballooned to P401.768 billion after the city government completed its assessment of donated land assets between 1964 to 2003 which yielded a total value of P347.35 billion.
Quezon City, Makati City, and Cebu province are the only LGUs in an exclusive club with assets in the hundred-billion region.
COA issues the AFR yearly “to provide essential information on the financial condition, performance, cash flows, changes in equity” of LGUs to the national government, lawmakers and other stakeholders.
Official copies are submitted at yearend to the Office of the President, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. On the other hand, electronic copies are accessible to the public on the commission’s official website (www.coa.gov.ph).
The Top 10 wealthiest citiew are Quezon City – P452.333 billion Makati City — P238.465 billion; Manila — P76.548 billion; Pasig City — P49.511 billion; Cebu City — P34.754 billion; Mandaue City — P32.571 billion; Taguig City — P30.682 billion; Davao City — P23.664 billion; Caloocan City — P22.203 billion; and Zamboanga City — P19.775 billion.
Manila, Pasig City, Cebu City, Mandaue City, and Taguig City maintained their third to seventh spots from 2019, but Davao City climbed two rungs to grab eighth, dropping Caloocan City to ninth.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s home city posted an asset increase of P3.88 billion from only P19.784 billion the year before.
Zamboanga City is the only newcomer on the list, replacing Pasay City which was at ninth spot in 2019.
On the other hand, the Top 10 wealthiest provinces are Cebu — P213.005 billion; Batangas —P25.236 billion; Rizal — P23.053 billion; Davao de Oro — P20.891 billion;
Bukidnon — P18.558 bbillion Negros Occidental — P17.17 billion; Isabela — P16.614 billion; Surigao del Norte — P15.787 billion; Palawan — P15.737 billion; and Iloilo — P14.837 billion.
Cebu province’s assets climbed P9.105 billion year on year.
Batangas, Rizal, Davao de Oro, and Bukidnon held on to their 2019 spots from second to fifth spots.
Negros Occidental, however, returned to sixth place after losing the spot last year to Surigao del Norte, which this year fell two places to land at eighth.
Isabela barged into the Top 10 for the first time, leapfrogging three provinces to take seventh place and pushing Leyte, the previous number eight, out of this year’s list.
Iloilo kept tenth place, the same seat it occupied in 2019.
The COA also reported the country’s wealthiest municipalities, which are Limay, Bataan — P4.463 billion;
Silang, Cavite — P4.239 billion Caluya, Antique — P3.502 billion; Cainta, Rizal — P3.473 billion; Taytay, Rizal — P3.119 billion; Binangonan, Rizal — P2.804 billion; Sual, Pangasinan — P2.678 billion; Carmona, Cavite — P2.472 billion; Rodriguez, Rizal — P2.391 billion; and Mariveles, Bataan — P2.379 billion
Cainta lost top spot to land at number four in 2020 after reporting assets of P3.473 billion — down P1.461 billion from P4.934 billion in 2019.
A review of its 2020 financial statements showed the municipal government corrected its “receivables” from P1.527 billion in 2019 to just P111.845 million in 2020, causing the drop. This account consists of real property tax receivables and special education tax receivables.
Limay, Bataan landed on top for the first time — up one rung from the previous year — after beefing up its assets by P398 million.
Silang, Cavite continued to climb up the rankings from ninth in 2018 and third in 2019 to grab second place in 2020.
Caluya, Antique was sixth in 2019, also improved three places to end up third in the list.
Fifth placer Taytay, Rizal is a newcomer in the rankings, together with Rodriguez, Rizal which landed at eighth place.
Mariveles, Bataan was nfourth placer in 2019 but dropped in 2020 to tenth place.
Dropping out of the 2020 top 10 list are Tanay, Rizal (eighth in 2019) and Calaca, Batangas (ninth in 2019).
For the third year in a row, Caluya is the only municipality outside of Luzon that made it into the Top 10 list. No municipality from Mindanao made the roster.
