Interactive infographics: The Philippines’ best cities, provinces

MANILA, Philippines – Bohol has the best provincial government in the country, while Valenzuela in Metro Manila and little-known Ligao in Albay have the best city governments, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Using IBM’s Many Eyes, abs-cbnNEWS.com mapped the performance scores of 30 of the best local government units (LGUs) in the latest state of performance report released by the DILG.

You can browse and analyze the data placed on the embedded visualization above by placing the cursor over images and even change the way the data is presented by choosing which categories to view and highlight.

You can view an expanded version of the data visualization on Many Eyes.

The figures are based on the DILG’s Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS), a web-based, self-assessment tool that measures LGU performance in key governance areas and provides information on the status of LGUs in terms of local governance and development.

The DILG’s online tool assesses LGU performance in the following areas: administrative, social, economic, and environmental governance, and fundamentals of good governance which include transparency, participation and financial accountability.

It uses a grading system of 1 as the lowest and 5 as the highest. The data covers 2010.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, in a press statement, said a team composed of representatives from the national and local governments conducted the assessment of the LGUs, with the results validated by civil society organizations to maintain impartiality.

Best local governments

Bohol (4.937) topped the best LGU performance for provinces, with La Union (4.9115), Bulacan (4.8628), Negros Oriental (4.8331), and Pangasinan (4.8185) in the top 5.

Valenzuela led in the independent/highly urbanized city category with a score of 4.915, followed by San Juan (4.8875), Puerto Princesa (4.864), Angeles (4.741), and Davao (4.738).

Meanwhile, Ligao (4.924) took the top spot in the component city category. Laoag (4.9193), San Fernando (4.9177), Vigan (4.8617), and Gingoog (4.85680) were in the top 5.

Noticeably missing on the list is the nation’s capital, Manila, as well as its business centerpiece, Makati City.

Crunching the data through Many Eyes also showed that Luzon local governments dominated the rankings, with only a few entries from Visayas and Mindanao LGUs.

The data released by the DILG did not name the worst-performing local governments, although the data is available at the department’s Bureau of Local Government Supervision website.

The case of Akbar, Basilan

An example of a poorly performing LGU would be the town of Akbar in Basilan.

The 2009 data for the 6th-class municipality shows that Akbar had a low literacy rate, with only a few residents having gone to school.

People in the town also had poor access to water, sanitary facilities, and electricity.

The data also noted the alarming incidence of terrorist attacks in the town, high unemployment and underemployment and extremely low income per capita of residents.

It also warned of the presence of polluting industries in coastal and riverside areas in the town that threaten aquatic life.

“Low family income would impact to education of children. Children may opt to work instead of going to school to help the family with the basic necessity such as food. Poor nutrition due to imbalance food intake may lead to many forms of illnesses or worse, even death,” the state of local government report said.

“Low income is a hindrance in accessing decent shelter and basic utilities such as water, electricity and sanitary toilet facility. Difficulty to access water and sanitary toilet facility poses environmental and health problems,” it added.

“Low income may lead to illegal activities that impact on the integrity of the environment or social disharmony. The overriding motivation is survival,” it added.

In the data for 2010, the Akbar local government unit failed to achieve any “excellent performance” marking in 6 areas in administrative governance.

The town had its highest score of 4.09 in the local legislation category but only a 2.33 grade in resource allocation and use.

“Dedicate more time and effort on the areas for improvement,” the report said. –Jojo Malig, abs-cbnNEWS.com