Zamboanga City is the richest city in Mindanao based on net assets in 2020. 

CLAIM: A Facebook post claims Davao City is the richest city in Mindanao based on assets.  

Rating: MISSING CONTEXT

The claim that Davao City is the richest city in Mindanao based on the Commission on Audit’s 2020 Financial Audit Report of Local Government Units, which is being spread by a number of Facebook pages and accounts, lacks context.

The posts quote only the COA report on the top cities in the Philippines with the biggest assets, where Davao City placed eighth.

Table showing top ten provinces, cities and municipalities in the Philippines with the biggest amount of total assets (from COA 2020 Annual Financial Report Local Government Volume 1)

The COA does not declare an LGU as the “richest” in any of its reports.  On the other hand, journalists use the word to describe politicians with the highest net worth or net assets based on their recently filed Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).  

Net assets is defined as “the total assets of an entity, minus its total liabilities. The amount of net assets exactly matches the stockholders’ equity of a business.”  It is the same as net worth in the SALNs required of government officials and employees. The same formula was used by the COA to determine the net assets of each LGU.

Table showing top ten provinces, cities and municipalities in the Philippines with the biggest amount of total Net Assets/Equity (from COA 2020 Annual Financial Report Local Government Volume 1)

Following this formula, Davao City ended up as the ninth city with the biggest net assets in the Philippines.  

Zamboanga City placed seventh and is therefore the “richest” city in Mindanao in terms of net assets in 2020 based on the COA report, contrary to the claims of the posts circulating in social media. – Rommel F. Lopez

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