DAVAO CITY – With PHP19.784 billion in total assets last year, this city has landed the 10th spot among the richest cities in the country in 2019, according to the Commission on Audit’s (COA) Annual Financial Report (AFR) for Local Government.
Released on Thursday, the COA report listed Makati City as the wealthiest city in the Philippines, with PHP233.7 billion in assets, followed by Quezon City (PHP96.4 billion), Manila (PHP64.8 billion), Pasig (PHP45.6 billion), Cebu City (PHP34.7 billion), Mandaue City (PHP32.1 billion), Taguig City (PHP29 billion), Caloocan (PHP20.5 billion), and Pasay (PHP19.7 billion).
Davao City was the lone local government unit in Mindanao to have made it to the list.
Mayor Sara Z. Duterte said Friday the city's inclusion in the list came as a surprise since the city government did not aim for it – at least in 2019.
“Actually, we did not target to achieve it in 2019. It is not (what) we are targeting,” she said in a radio interview.
“I instructed the City Treasurer’s Office to check if we had the same collection last year. From there, we will try to analyze if there is a change in terms of performance on the city government’s collection.”
Based on the assessment of the accounting firm SGV last year, Duterte said the city's economy looks set to pick up in 2022.
The city government recently announced that it has fully achieved its revenue target for 2020, even amid the pandemic.
The City Treasurer's Office said the city earned a total income of PHP10.34 billion from local taxes, service income, business income, economic enterprise, other income, and Internal Revenue Allotment.
The amount exceeded the PHP9.6-billion income the city earned in 2019. (PNA)
