by Benjie Navarro

BAGUIO CITY, April 1 - The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) recently released the interim provincial and municipal Good Governance Index (GGI) for the years 2005 and 2008.


The GGI is a composite of the Income Index and the Expenditure Index. The Income Index measures per capita income and per capita income from local sources. The Expenditure Index covers per capita expenditures on education, health and economic services. These indicators attempt to capture the quality of resource management by Local Government Units. The GGI is currently being developed by the NSCB to promote good governance in the country through objective, comprehensive and comparable measures of governance based on outcome indicators.

2008 GGI estimates revealed that five out of the six provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) are among the top 10 provinces in the Philippines. The ranking of the CAR provinces are as follows: Kalinga , 3rd; Benguet, 4th; Mt. Province, 7th; Ifugao, 8th and Apayao, 9th. The increase of Abra’s GGI by 0.5 index point from 2005 to 2008 did not prevent its descent from the 15th to the 23rd rank nationwide.

During the three-year period, Ifugao Province leapt 13 notches up, propelled by the remarkable increase of its GGI by 36.1 index points. Other provinces that improved in standing due to the increase in GGI are Kalinga (from 6th to 3rd)) and Mt. Province (from 8th to 7th). In contrast, Benguet and Apayao registered a decrease in GGI by 13.2 and 4.3 index points respectively.

Consequently, Benguet slid from second to fourth place and Apayao from fifth to ninth.

Nationwide, the top Two are Camiguin and Siquijor respectively. Rounding off the top 10 are Batanes at No. 4, Laguna, No. 5 and Compostela Valley at No. 10. *(NSCB/PIA CAR)