Cebu’s continued progress and development is once again in full display after the official data released by the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that it remains to be one of the most elite provinces in the country in terms of average annual income.
DOF Department Order No. 074.2024, signed by Sec. Ralph Recto on Nov. 5 but was made public only recently, showed that Cebu Province, led by Gov. Gwen Garcia, has retained its status as a first class province.
This is not surprising, since in order to qualify as such under the DOF-DO, a province only needs to register an average annual income of P1.5 billion, which is way below that annual average income of Cebu.
What is highly encouraging is the number of municipalities in Cebu that breached the first class status as municipalities. From only eight LGUs last year that held this distinction, the figure has now grown to 25 municipalities, more than tripling last year’s figure.
Conversely, the number of fifth class municipalities last year, which was nine (9), has gone down to only one this year, with the other eight promoted to fourth class status.
For context, first class municipalities register an average annual income of P200 million or more; while fifth class municipalities are those that have less than P90 million in average annual income.
CITIES CLASSIFICATION
Moreover, there are now five first class cities in Cebu, including the highly urbanized tri-cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu.
Rounding out the list are Talisay City and Toledo City, which rose two ranks higher from their third class status last year to now becoming first class cities.
Under the DOF-DO, first class cities average an annual income of P1.3 billion or more.
Bogo City in the north is the component city that is ranked least as a fourth class city, with an annual average income of P500 million or more, but less than P800 million. Even this is impressive, given that the Bogo City was classified as a sixth class city last year.
All these developments as reflected in official government data only echo the kind of progress and development that is all too known in Cebu, the undisputed Number One Province in the entire country today!
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘦𝘣𝘶 𝘓𝘎𝘜 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴, 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦: https://bit.ly/3BqT8HA