San Carlos City huge budget due to share from nat’l gov’t

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

SAN CARLOS CITY – Because of its huge population this city has an annual appropriation budget (AAB) of more than eight hundred million pesos this year.

Mayor Julier "Ayoy" Resuello said that this local government unit chalked up most of the AAB from the national coffer because of its huge population, after this newspaper told him that his city competes with the annual appropriation budget of the two Pangasinan cities’ Urdaneta and Alaminos.

“Mas malaki kaya lang mas maraming local income si Alaminos City because sa tourism spot niya, e”.

 BIG CITY. 84 villages' San Carlos City, Pangasinan Mayor Julier "Ayoy" Resuello (right) after his interview at his office by the author.

Among the four cities in Pangasinan, Dagupan City, the commercial hub of Region-1, had hit the one billion pesos AAB under the mayorship of Belen T. Fernandez in 2019.

When told that Urdaneta City spikes its budget because of roughly two hundred million pesos revenues earned by its Urdaneta City University,  Resuelo said that this city’s more or less 1,300 students Binalatongan Community College is recipient of government subsidy yearly.

“Sa amin kasi binibigyan pa rin kami ng government ng CHED ng assistance. Galing sa siyudad kaya sina subsidize na kami ng CHED 1,300 something students”.

He said the sum from the national government for the college alone reached P16 million yearly.

“Kasi meron pang binibigay ang CHED na allowance para sa mga bata. Merong pang P40, 000 sa mga 400 students. Iyon kasi napili ng CHED. Deserving students merong P40,000 na allowance”.

When asked by this writer about the new big malls and other businesses that sprouted in this central Pangasinan city, Resuello cited the peace and order situation that shrouded this city gave confidence to investors.

“Ang peace and order situation ng San Carlos doing good if not excellent. Its doing good because a lot of people invested their money here. Lots of people give their trust to the local government”.

This city has roughly 200 thousand populations.

The Local Government Code of 1991provides that the share of each province, city, and municipality from the national taxes shall be determined on the basis of the following formula: (a) Population - Fifty percent (50%); (b) Land Area - Twenty-five percent (25%); and (c) Equal sharing - Twenty-five percent (25%).