Quezon City still richest PHL city and LGU with P443-B in assets; Cebu, Rizal and Batangas are richest provinces

By Jennifer T. Santos

QUEZON CITY — For the third straight year, Quezon City under Mayor Joy Belmonte emerged as the wealthiest city and local government unit in the country in terms of asset in 2022, data from the Commission on Audit (COA) showed.

Based on COA’s 2022 Annual Financial Report (AFR) for LGUs, Quezon City retained the top spot among the richest cities for the third straight year, even though its reported assets dropped by around ₱8 billion to ₱443.4 billion last year from ₱451 billion in 2021.

Makati City headed by Mayor Abigail Binay was second richest with total assets amounting to P239.4 billion, followed by the City of Manila in the third spot with ₱77.5 billion.

Mandaue City in Cebu province has P34 billion in assets as it outranked Cebu City by almost ₱4 billion. In 2021, Cebu City, the capital of the province, was richer than Mandaue by around ₱300 million.

Davao City maintained its ninth place spot among the richest cities, even if its assets increased to P29 billion in 2022 from P26 billion in 2021.

Rounding up the top 20 are the following LGUs:

Pasig City – ₱52.1 billion; Taguig City – ₱40.8 billion; Mandaue City – ₱34.2 billion; Mandaluyong City – ₱32.5 billion; Cebu City – ₱30.5 billion; Davao City – ₱29.7 billion; Parañaque City – ₱27.3 billion; Caloocan City – ₱27.2 billion; Zamboanga City – ₱23.4 billion; Laoag City – ₱20.9 billion; Antipolo City, Rizal – ₱18.7 billion; Calamba City, Laguna – ₱18.5 billion; Pasay City – ₱17.9 billion; Puerto Princesa City, Palawan – ₱16.7 billion; Baguio City – ₱14.4 billion; Cagayan de Oro – ₱13.6 billion and Valenzuela City – ₱13.3 billion.

Meanwhile, the top 10 richest provinces were Cebu (P215.27 billion), Rizal (P30.638 billion), Batangas (P29.705 billion), Davao de Oro (P23.211 billion), Bukidnon (P19.455 billion), Negros Occidental (P18.025 billion), Ilocos Sur (P17.907 billion), Iloilo (P17.399 billion), Isabela (P16.419 billion) and Palawan (P16.109 billion).

The top 10 richest municipalities were Carmona, Cavite (P6.212 billion), Limay, Bataan (P4.795 billion), Silang, Cavite (P3.738 billion), Cainta, Rizal (P3.393 billion), Taytay, Rizal (P3.274 billion), Binangonan, Rizal (P3.141 billion), Caluya, Antique (P3.117 billion), Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur (P3.044 billion), Cabugao, Ilocos Sur (P2.967 billion) and Rodriguez, Rizal (P2.915 billion).