Makati hailed as richest LGU anew

MANILA, Philippines — For the third straight year, Makati has been recognized as the country’s richest local government unit (LGU) with total assets reaching P233.78 billion in 2019, according to the Commission on Audit (COA)’s report released yesterday.

Based on the COA’s 2019 Annual Financial Report on LGUs, Makati’s assets grew by P2.95 billion in 2019 from total assets of P230.833 billion in 2018.

The city government’s wealth for 2019 was higher than the entire province of Cebu, which posted total assets of P203.9 billion. This made Makati the sole city in the country with over P200 billion in assets.

The growth in Makati’s wealth was mainly attributed to improved tax collection from P17.81 billion in 2018 to P18.43 billion in 2019.

The audit body said this was on top of P31.362 million revenue generated from the issuance of local clearances.

Makati was also able to assessed a total of 205,824 real property units, an increase of 5.58 percent than in 2018, translating to higher real property tax collection, the COA said.

Quezon City remains as the second wealthiest city, with total assets of P96.423 billion in 2019 from P87.285 billion in 2018.

The top 10 list of wealthiest cities for 2019 are Makati (P233.78 billion), Quezon City (P96.423 billion), Manila (P64.805 billion), Pasig (P45.639 billion), Cebu City (P34.711 billion), Mandaue City (P32.157 billion), Taguig (P29.065 billion), Caloocan (P20.599 billion), Pasay (P19.795 billion) and Davao City (P19.783 billion).

Identified as the wealthiest provinces are Cebu (P203.9 billion), Batangas (P20.793 billion), Rizal (P20.275 billion), Davao de Oro (P20.099 billion), Bukidnon (P18.294 billion), Surigao del Norte (P16.684 billion), Negros Occidental (P15.901 billion), Leyte (P13.54 billion), Palawan (P13.036 billion) and Iloilo (P13.034 billion).

The top 10 richest municipalities are Cainta, Rizal (P4.933 billion), Limay, Bataan (P4.065 billion), Silang, Cavite (P3.842 billion), Mariveles, Bataan (P3.076 billion), Sual, Pangasinan (P2.989 billion), Caluya, Antique (P2.904 billion), Binangonan, Rizal (P2.336 billion), Tanay, Rizal (P2.209 billion), Calaca, Batangas (P2.12 billion) and Carmona, Cavite (P2.075 billion).