According to the recent annual report released by the Commission on Audit on October 12, Iloilo ranked in 7th place after gathering more than P8.14 billion in assets, a significant increase of nearly P3 billion in 2016 compared to the 2015 audit.

Nueva Ecija on the other hand landed in 9th place having total assets worth P7.22 billion. In 2015, the province only posted P5.49 billion worth of assets.

The two provinces displaced Cavite and Negros Oriental in the top 10 list of wealthiest provinces in the country.

Meanwhile, Cebu was able to maintain its position as the wealthiest province and showcases its assets which increased by over P2 billion, from 30.33 billion in 2015 to P32.43 billion in 2016.

Apparently, Cebu’s assets are almost three times larger than the second placer, Rizal, which has P11.73 billion worth assets, based on COA’s report.

Negros Occidental was able to maintain its rank at 3rd place for posting assets worth P11.04 billion.

Bulacan and Batangas completed the top 5 wealthiest provinces, posting P8.96 billion and P9.98 billion worth of assets respectively.

Unfortunately for Palawan, it fell to the 6th place despite posting an increase in assets of P8.2 billion from P6.6 billion in 2015 audit.

Also, Laguna fell to the 8th place from its previous spot at 4th place while Leyte was able to preserve its spot in 10th place.