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
This fact-check was produced by PressOne.PH as part of a fact-checking grant from the Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator (PFCI) Project. The PFCI supports news organizations to allow them to meet global fact-checking standards under the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles.
PressOne.PH believes that fact-checking is essential to combating misinformation and disinformation, and in informing and educating citizens and voters. Read more of PressOne.PH’s Fact-Checking Policy by clicking here.
The public is welcome to send feedback or requests for fact-checks at news@pressone.ph.