BAGUIO CITY – The Regional Statistics Committee (RSC) of the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) recognized the need for separate income accounting for the city, it being a major a contributor to the region’s economy. Thus, the resolution “Enjoining Support to the Compilation of Baguio City Product Accounts” was approved on November 21, 2019 during the 4th Quarter RSC Meeting.
The resolution encourages regional and city government offices as well as the private sector to provide data for the City Planning and Development Office’s compilation of the Baguio City income account. The committee recognizes the importance of Baguio City having its own income accounting as it will be the basis for more responsive and precise policies and development programs. “We say that Baguio contributes the largest to the Cordillera economy but we have no basis,” according to Aldrin Bahit of PSA-CAR.
The Cordillera economy is largely industry-based and most large-scale manufacturing and call center industries are located in Baguio City. The implementation of a regular accounting for the City of Baguio would provide a statistics-based measure of the economic size of the city in comparison to the rest of the Cordillera.
If implemented, this will be the first income accounting initiative on a city level. The only other local accounts are those of the provinces of Guimaras and Palawan. NEDA is also pursuing a scoping project on provincial income accounts with Benguet as the pilot province.
Several members expressed concern over the lack of data being generated in the region.
This affects planning programs and projects that should be based on evidence and statistics. However, Bahit expressed that the Cordillera as a region is leading in data collection compared to the other regions which use CAR’s set of core indicators as a benchmark for their own regional indicators.
By Marlo Lubguban
