There’s a new trend starting, triggered off by the last elections. It’s about the rise of New, Young Mayors across the country. Out of 145 cities across the country, 70 of them have new, first-term Mayors. And I just learned that out of the approximately 1,500 municipalities in the country, 600 also have new Mayors. I’m sure a number of them were actually Mayors in the past who sat out a term or two and were returning to their old posts. Some may also come from political dynasties, and thus are not really “new” to the position. Nonetheless, this presents an opportunity for a fresh start for cities and municipalities; an opportunity to re-imagine and re-define themselves as more liveable cities.

Have you ever been frustrated by the manual process of filing for any government permit ? You usually have to fill out multiple forms, line up in various offices or even commute from one office to another, and wait for some time.

One of the challenges we’ve faced in the Ease of Doing Business project was developing technology solutions quickly. For a variety of reasons, we couldn’t get government agencies to move fast enough. Procurement processes took too long or procedures for obtaining licenses and permits could not be simplified. In the meantime, entrepreneurs and investors suffered through the manual procedures.

At the National Competitiveness Council, we believe that city and municipality competitiveness is a key building block for national competitiveness. We also believe that with over 100 million people across 7,000 islands, it is important to create more economic engines in the form of LGUs to drive long-term economic growth and development. Building these economic engines will disperse investment and job opportunities and spur inclusive growth. It will also spread risk for companies looking for new business locations and create a better investment environment for the country as a whole because there would now be more options available.