The Municipality of Mina, Iloilo was judged as the winner of the Most Business-Friendly LGU, Municipal Level II  Category (3rd-5th class municipalities) in the entire country in the recently concluded 2020 Philippine Business Conference organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry on October 8, 2020. Mina town under the leadership of Hon. Rey Grabato bested all other municipalities when its economic response to cope with the pandemic and creating a business-friendly environment was judged as being the best in the entire country for 2020.

            The organizers created a three (3) level challenge category in which Mina was able to formulate their management responses to meet those challenges, namely 1. Modernizing (computerization of) business permits and licensing, 2. Meeting the challenge of low revenue collection, and 3. Reducing the growing incidence of business closures.  The LGU was also able to combat the challenges of Peace and Order situation and provide a solution to its notable increase in an unemployment rate.   Mina which had long prepared for such eventualities had been proactive in its governance, leading all other LGUs in developing its digital leap to modernization by designing its homegrown computer software such as Business Permits and Licensing System and the Municipal Agricultural Information System (MAIS) which is now adopted by the Province of Iloilo and also in the entire country through the active sponsorship of Congressman Lorenz R. Defensor to enact a law to institutionalize MAIS in the entire country.

            Mina town’s response to the crisis spawned by the COVID19 pandemic such as low revenue collection and the high incidence of business closures was also noticed by the judges and thus added to the merits that made Mina the eventual winner in that category. Having a proactive stance in local governance by creating programs that had attracted its constituents closer to the local government enabled the LGU to maintain its high revenue performance as well as stemming the tide of higher than normal incidence of business closures experienced by all municipalities during this period of the pandemic.

            PCCI having evaluated all entries in the entire country judged the Municipality as the winner of the  Most Business-Friendly for the entire country for 2020. One other Iloilo municipality was given a special citation in the same category, the Municipality of Conception, while the  City of Iloilo was also given a special citation in the highly urbanized city category.