QC is richest city for second straight year - COA

Quezon City, for the second straight year, has remained the wealthiest city in the country in 2021 with P451 billion worth of assets, the Commission on Audit (COA)'s Annual Financial Report on Local Governments showed.

The same COA report revealed that Quezon City retained the top spot among the richest cities even if its assets dwindled by P1 billion in 2021 from P452 billion in 2020.

Makati City was a far second richest with P238.5 billion, slightly higher than its 2020 assets which reached P238.4 billion. The citylast held the richest city tag in 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted quarantine restrictions in the country in March 2020.

Richest Cities in the Philippines

Quezon City and Makati City were followed by the following in the list for richest cities for 2021:

Manila with P65 billion
Pasig with P51 billion
Taguig with P36 billion
Cebu with P33.3 billion
Mandaue with P33 billion
Mandaluyong with P31 billion
Davao with P26.56 billion

Taguig City was the biggest gainer compared with 2020 figures at P36 billion, besting Cebu and Mandaue cities of the Cebu province.

Mandaluyong also improved to 8th place with P31 billion, displacing Zamboanga City (P21 billion) and Caloocan City (P23 billion) which dropped out of the top 10 richest cities in 2021.

Richest Provinces in the Philippines

As for the provinces, Cebu has remained the richest by a mile at P215 billion.

Rizal placed second with P30.6 billion, followed by Batangas which had P29.7 billion.

Rounding up the top 10 wealthiest provinces were:

Davao de Oro with P23.211 billion
Bukidnon with P19.455 billion
Negros Occidental with P18.025 billion
Ilocos Sur with P17.907 billion
Iloilo with P17.399 billion
Isabela with P16.419 billion and
Palawan with P16.109 billion

Rizal's P30 billion assets in 2021 is a P7-billion increase compared with its 2021 record, enough to overtake Batangas.

Davao de Oro, Bukidnon, and Negros Occidental retained their 2020 rankings.

Iloilo, for its part, increased its 2021 assets by P2.5 billion, good for eighth place.

Isabela, on the other hand, dropped two places to number 9 with P16.4 billion assets.

Only Quezon City, Makati City, and Cebu province also recorded assets totalling P100 billion and above for the second straight year among local governments.

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The 215-page report covered the financial statements of 1,676 LGUs including 81 provinces, 146 cities, 1,488 municipalities, 22,680 barangays and the Bangsamoro Government.

COA said there was a 97.7% compliance by the country’s 1,715 LGUs in submitting their financial statements for audit.

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