President Rodrigo Duterte on Oct. 4 made two erroneous claims about Davao City’s revenue growth rate. First, he understated it. Then he wrongly described it as the highest among all local government units.
This is not the first time he got the city’s financial figures wrong.
STATEMENT
Airing his frustration at a military general he fired in connection with the procurement of medicines and medical supplies for soldiers, Duterte recalled how he ran Davao City as mayor:
“(Y)ou have been to Davao and look at Davao. …It’s not extra safe but Davao is really — it’s clean, it’s progressing, it’s earning 9 percent, the highest in the country for a local government in a local economy.
That’s my legacy to the — kaya ayaw kong bitawan (which is why I didn’t want to leave)…”
Source: Presidential Communications Operations Office, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Speech During the Dinner with the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association, Inc., Oct. 4, 2018, watch from 14:51-15:27
FACT
Davao City’s revenue growth rate in 2016, the year Duterte was elected president, stood at 10.24 percent, not 9 percent, data from the Commission on Audit’s (COA) reports show.
COA defines revenue as the “gross inflow of economic benefits or service potential during the reporting period when those inflows result in an increase in net assets/equity, other than increases relating to contributions from owners.” Revenue can be loosely referred to as earnings.
The city’s total reported revenue grew from P6.171 billion in 2015 to P6.803 billion the following year, making it the fifth highest earning city in the country in 2016, according to the latest available tally.
Its revenue growth rate, however, is not the highest among LGUs, contrary to the president’s claim.
COA’s financial reports list the earnings of cities, provinces and municipalities separately. Parañaque posted the highest revenue growth rate at 19.02 percent in 2016. Davao was only second.
Even if Duterte were referring to the city’s 2015 revenue growth rate, he would still be wrong.
Davao City’s earnings grew 9.89 percent that year. It ranked last in terms of revenue growth rate among the nine cities with the highest reported revenues in 2015 that were also in the 2014 list.
On at least two other occasions, Duterte falsely claimed the city’s economy had been growing by an “unprecedented” 9 percent (See VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Duterte repeats wrong claim about Davao City’s economic growth and VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Is Davao City’s economic growth unprecedented in the country’s history?).
Government data on economic growth, however, are disaggregated by region, not by city. The president then must be referring to Davao Region’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth rate of 9.4 percent in 2016, which is prominently featured in the official website of Davao City’s Investment Promotion Office.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) uses GRDP, or “the aggregate of gross value added of all resident producer units in the region,” as the indicator of economic growth.
Sources:
PCOO, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Speech During the Dinner with the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association, Inc., Oct. 4, 2018
Philippine Statistics Authority, Gross Regional Domestic Product 2014-2016
COA, Annual Financial Report for Local Government (Volume I), 2016
COA, Annual Financial Report for Local Government (Volume I), 2015
COA, Annual Financial Report for Local Government (Volume I), 2014
COA, Revenue and other receipts
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