Pangasinan: A ‘Rich’ Province, Now

“The best place to invest, work, live, and raise a family.”
 Perhaps, Governor Amado T. Espino Jr.’s tagline is no longer just a vision, but now a reality.
 Reaffirmed by the recent report of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) is Pangasinan’s commitment- to what once was just a vision- of alleviating the lives of its people.
 The province put in the sharpest drop of 9.5 percent in the poverty incidence rate, from 26.5 percent in 2006 to 17 percent in 2012.
 Pangasinan recorded such thickset upturn while the rest of the country did not move that much.
 Philippines, as a whole, registered only a minimal 1.1 percent drop, from 23.4 percent in 2006 to 22.3 percent in 2012. Also, the province- for the same comparative years- has even listed a higher improvement in the poverty incidence rate than Bohol, the province that was named in 2012 by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) as the top performing province in the country.
 From 41 percent in 2006 to 32.5 percent in 2012, Bohol tilted an 8.5 percent growth.
 In Region 1, Pangasinan despite only being second to Ilocos Norte with the lowest poverty incidence rate has recorded the highest significant growth with respect to the last six years.
 As it can be taken from the above data collected by the National Statistics Office (NSO) based on the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) in July 2012, way back 2006, Pangasinan had a higher poverty incidence rate of 26.5 percent than the rest of the country with 23.4 percent.
 Assuming the highest elective post in the province in 2007, Gov. Espino started instantaneously putting his dreams to actions that matter to the majority of the Pangasinenses.
The provincial government since then up to this day has been implementing various programs and projects in the areas of healthcare, agricultural productivity, livelihood assistance, and employment which provide opportunities for the people.
 The province was also awarded numerous national and regional recognition placing it as the top performing province in the region and the top four province in the country in terms of DILG standards on administrative governance, social governance, economic governance, environmental governance and fundamentals of good governance, which include transparency, participation, and financial accountability.
 Reelected on his last term, the Governor along with the provincial government workers vowed to keep up if not level up the quality of the service they provide: sustaining a living slogan and further making the province a ‘rich’ one in all the areas of good governance. (Arian Bermas)