Pangasinan 2nd District Gets Lowest Fund

Compares to 4th and 3rd Cong. Districts

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN - The Second Congressional District of Pangasinan has the lowest appropriation of PhP200 million for infrastructure projects, compared to the allocation this year for two other congressional districts in the province.

Pangasinan Second District Engineering Office District Engineer Editha Manuel of the Department of Public Works & Highway said a minuscule sum was the allocation of the national government to the district which has eight towns.

In comparison, the fourth congressional district has PhP800 million allocation, Manuel said when asked how much the one city and four towns district under Representative Christopher de Venecia fared.

Capital town Lingayen is part of  eight towns Second Congressional District of Pangasinan.

These data on the appropriation by the national government to the Second Congressional District was a shocker since all of the six congressional districts in Pangasinan in the past few years did not drop below the One Billion Peso mark appropriation, especially with those hundreds of billions of pesos of projects from the DPWH.
This smaller allocation was given already during the incumbency of Representative Leopoldo Bataoil in January to June 30, 2019 and his successor Congressman Jumel Espino, according to D.E Manuel.

Pangasinan 4th District Engineering Office District Engineer Simplicio D. Gonzales said he had PhP 1.2 billion projects for this year.

Gonzales office supervises San Carlos City and the towns of Sta. Barbara, Mapandan, Calasiao, Malasique, and Bayambang all under the 3rd Congressional District.

Manuel could not comment if the lethargic allocation of projects in the Second and the Fourth Congressional Districts, her area, had something to do with the controversial P75 billion inserted as pork by then Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno in the 3.7 Trillion national budget.

"In the preparation phase, pinag-aralan nila lahat 'yan (they studied that) ... pagkatapos pagdating sa House o sa Senate babaguhin bigla (then upon reaching the Senate or the House, they will suddenly make changes) whimsically, capriciously and without any consultation with the agencies, just imagine what would happen to those items, it cannot be implement," Senator Panfilo Lacson, the one who exposed the insertion, cited.

In the proposed 2020 P4.1 Trillion national budget, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said that for next year an averaged of P400 million will be allocated to every congressional districts in the country.