Lucena City: The Most Liveable City in the Philippines, Research Says

Lucena City is the Number 1 most liveable city among the 33 highly-urbanized cities in the country, according to a recent study.

Lucena ranked first in the academic dissertation “Liveability Index of Philippine Cities” conducted by Dr. John Vianne Murcia, a specialist of the University of Mindanao’s Institute of Popular Opinion (IPO).

Lucena outperformed Davao and Puerto Princesa cities which ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

The study employed the data mining approach utilizing secondary data of 17 indicators spread over four dimensions of city liveability: governance, social, economic, and physical/environmental.

Lucena topped the physical/environmental category (7.187), which comprised the highest weighted value among the four indicators. Other top cities under this dimension are Tacloban (5.029), Davao (4.350) and General Santos (4.055).

The study also showed several of city’s advantages over the other 32 HUCs: forest cover and available green spaces, average humidity, and premium for road maintenance and rehabilitation, access to electricity and water by majority of the households.

In an interview conducted by Radyo Pilipinas DWLC 1017 Khz., Dr. Murcia mentioned that the dimensions used are not similar to national competitiveness index, but patterned after scientific papers and international index widely used and accepted in the US and Europe.

A panel check with 10 experts whose opinions were collected to corroborate the results of the study was conducted, he further stated.

Dr. Murcia stated that it could serve as an inspiration for policymakers to “take into seriousness the quality, completeness, timeliness and availability of data for decision-making.”

Mayor Roderick A. Alcala thanked Dr. Murcia for the inspiration to further improve the quality of living in Lucena.